ScreechingOwl

Harumafuji doesn't look in great shape this basho, but, as the only yokozuna competing, he seems to be staying in this basho for the sake of sumo and the paying customers. I don't see any reason he'd go intai now, or even be criticized for a poor record, under this circumstance. I've been concerned about Harumafuji going intai every year since 2013, and, happily, he continues to exceed expectations. His injuries don't seem to ever fully heal, and he's almost 33 1/2 now. I guess it's hard to see how he'll still be competing after 2018, but on the other hand, none of the yokozuna are under 31 and I wouldn't be surprised to see one - or two - of them retire before he does. At least I hope so - long live Ama!

I'm pretty sure no Makushita wrestler has ever slapped a yokozuna. As for maegashira, the way to handle that is how Asashoryu did it: throw the offender off the doyho the next time you are matched against him. Of course Harumafuji doesn't have the bulk to do that, and may not have the meanness required to do it either. He's not in top form, but I'm certain he's under a lot of pressure to stay in the basho as the sole yokozuna standing. I don't imagine he'll be criticized even if he ends up 9-6, under the circumstances.

To follow up on what Pandaazuma noted, Japanese baseball players playing in the United States often apologize after sustaining an injury for which they were in no way responsible. Hideki Matsui broke his wrist attempting to catch a baseball in a game in 2006, and after surgery to repair his wrist he apologized for being unable to help the Yankees. More recently, in 2014 Masahiro Tanaka was diagnosed with a partially torn ligament in his throwing arm, which caused him to miss a large part of the season, and stated: "I want to apologize to the Yankees organization, my teammates and our fans for not being able to help out during this time."

There are lots of photos of inductees standing on their tippy toes too. But of course this sort of thing has gone on in other places too. I know someone who got into the U.S. Army back when the height requirement was 5'0" and he was only 4'11". He said that at the inspection the sergeant (who knew him) told him to keep his shoes on when he was measured. No one said boo....

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Here's a table showing ozeki performance: Wins 10+ 9 8 mk Miyabiyama 0 2 2 4 Dejima 5 2 2 3 Kotomitsuki 5 4 6 2 Baruto 8 4 1 2 Goeido 2 3 6 5 Those are the numbers. Goeido and Baruto each won one yusho as ozeki. (Kotomitsuki and Dejima each one one yusho prior to being elevated to ozeki.) Everyone is free to interpret the numbers as he or she chooses to, but from my vantage point Goeido has been a poor ozeki.

So have I. Today I could not get any feed on my computer; I was finally able to pick up the Chinese feed on my cell phone.

Haru 2014 is also the last time Hakuho and Harumafuji simultaneously got off to 8-0 starts. It was an impressive display of power by Terunofuji, but his use of the kime grip so often seems to be lazy/bad sumo to me. He should be getting a grip on the mawashi. Goeido's sumo was so poor that it's almost beyond words. He should easily be able to defeat Endo going forward, but instead he pulls, almost loses, and then, two feet from the edge of the dohyo, decides to pull again. He's just an awful ozeki - I think the worst since Miyabiyama. I hope he can't pull out eight wins this time and loses the rank. (Although that's not going to happen.) Takayasu, on the other hand, continues to impress on his way to ozeki promotion.

I too suspect today's bout with Hakuho might be Kotoshogiku's final one. A loss will leave him one loss away from make koshi, which is assured the way he has been wrestling this basho. He's only 33, but his power seems gone, most likely decreased by the accumulated wear-and-tear of injuries. It's difficult to see him carrying on after this basho, and an almost certain demotion to the maegashira ranks, but time will tell.

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[Kisenosato] On putting on 9 kilos and reaching his heaviest ever weight- "It's not because of neglect.." How do you gain 20 pounds without trying to and then claim it's not because of neglect? I guess he was eating too much on purpose. The private training isn't a good sign either. But one thing I've learned over the years about health and keiko reports - it's generally very difficult to read from them what the real state of a rikishi's health is.

After Hatsu this year Kisenosato edged ahead of Hakuho in my rating system. I think there was one basho where Harumafuji slightly overtook Hakuho (my ratings are based on the previous four tournaments) but other than that it's been Hakuho since a year or two before Asashoryu was forced out, which is quite a long run at the top.

My daughter, KikoCookie, will be playing and has promised to bring her dad along also.

1. No one likes to see a henka in an important match - or from a yokozuna or ozeki - but it's legal and they all do it at times. 2. We don't know if the henka was premeditated. Maybe jumping forward to cause the matta set it up, or maybe Kotoshogiku's well known tendency to carelessly plunge straightforward without looking gave Terunofuji the idea. 3. Maybe Terunofuji was tired of saving Giku's butt. When he was kadoban. Kotoshogiku's henka (or henka non henka as some charitably call it) didn't matter - Teru was "honor bound" to ozeki back scratch and save Giku. No way that match was anything but a gift. (And frankly by sparing us this version of over the hill GIku back as ozeki Terunofuji gave us fans a gift this time.) 4. If Terunofuji wins consecutive basho he will be promoted. He'll have put together a more compelling case for advancement that Kakuryu and especially Kisenosato. One henka will be water under the bridge. (There was a lot of muttering when Kotooshu won his yusho, but that's because he henka'd two or three bouts.)