warusawa

That playoff henka was disgusting, disappointing, and cowardly. Takakeisho backed into that yusho. No way does he deserve the rope. The yusho wins that qualify for a Yokozuna promotion should be dominant, yokozuna-like. This was not it.

Is Ochiai's elbow okay? Because it looked like it was hyperextended.

Ochiai is 5-0 at Ms 15 in his Ozumo debut. What do you guys think? Wants to be yokozuna. I say go for it!

Takayasu' injury seemed like a neck stinger to me. Glad he's okay. The injury just adds to the henka controversy. I am okay with henka; sumo is difficult enough not to use all the (legal) arrows in your quiver.

I was wondering how in the world Takayasu did not push Waka out in the last seconds of the bout. Then I noticed that before the final elbow from Takayasu, Waka grabbed his mawashi! And then used Taka's momentum to sling him out of the ring, while improving his own balance at the edge. The old judo (sumo?) principle - use other guy's momentum. These guys are agile. Whenever I say that I am a sumo fan I get weird looks and comments like - oh, the fat guys? And I want to reply - You wish you were so fast, agile and flexible like these fat guys, but I don't say anything. They wouldn't understand anyway. Kinda like wabi sabi, lol.

Hi, guys: I could not start a new topic in the Sumo Information forum so I am posting here. Mods, please move if inappropriate. I will be visiting Tokyo from the US in January during the Tokyo tournament. The timing is accidental, but I already got tickets for Thursday Jan 23rd. So excited! My first live sumo tournament...Any tips on when to arrive at the arena, fun things to do in and around Ryogoku Kokugikan, sumo souvenirs to buy, eat out in the area, any advice is appreciated. Is taking pictures allowed with no flash? Moderator Notice moved

I think your explanation makes a lot of sense. It also explains why "sidestepping", and letting your opponent's own momentum cause him to leave the dohyo is considered bad sumo. Strong men don't duck!

thanks!

This is only the second basho that I am watching, so please bear with me: 1. If I understand the rules correctly, a sumo bout is won when the opponent touches outside of the dohyo with any part of his body, or inside of the dohyo with any part of his body except feet. If that's the case, why aren't manouvers used in Greco-Roman or freestyle wrestling (like tossing an opponent using your hip, causing him to fall) used more often in sumo? Of course I only saw very few bouts so far, but it seems that most of the time rikishi try to push the opponent out of the dohyo, and relatively rarely use tossing techniques to cause the opponent to hit the ground inside the ring, like in western style wrestling. Why is that? 2. I like when the winning wrestler grabs the losing wrestler, preventing the losing guy from falling off the dohyo. I saw Hakuho do it, and I am sure others do it (if they can), to prevent an injury to the opponent. Is it a very widespread practice, or are there some "bad guys" who won't support a falling opponent, and some "good guys" who will do it more often than others? If so, who are the good guys, because I want to root for them! Thanks

I have a few general (and maybe mundane) questions to ask about sumo. What is the best sub-forum to ask these questions? I don't want to clutter the honbasho forum which has some amazing info... :-) warusawa

Great pics. They show the tremendous dynamics of the bouts and I love the stoic faces of the rikishi sitting ringside, as a counterpoint.

Thanks for the welcome and info. Watched the last seven makuuchi bouts last night on Asojima's link. Very cool.

Thanks, Asojima. I watched the last 7 bouts despite the ungodly hour here on the East Coast. Love the show. A little low-rez, but good enough to follow the bouts and the flow of the basho. Awesome.

Kind greetings to all. I registered at Sumoforum.net today. I live in the US, but travel to Japan on business and pleasure quite often (three times in 2010). In November 2010, my vacation trip coincided with the first live sumo tournament I had a chance to watch (on TV, not in person). So we (me and wife) arrive at the Kanazawa JR Station and head straight to the Tourist Information Center. We ask the guy about how to get to our ryokan, etc. So far so good. But I did not think our ryokan would have a TV, so I ask the guy where we can watch the sumo tournament on TV in town. I had a sports bar in mind (not realizing that there is really no such thing in Japan). He goes: "Sumo? You want to watch sumo???" He was startled to say the least. The long line of tourists behind us is starting to get pissed because they have more urgent matters to talk to the Tourist info guy about. He suggested going to a restaurant which has a TV and asking to change the channel to NHK. Good luck with that, I thought, a couple of gaijins not speaking a lick of Japanese barging in and demanding sumo coverage in a restaurant. Luckily, our ryokan had a TV in our room, and the rest is history. I am looking forward to learning more about this great sport, and also how to catch it on the Internet live! Warusawa