Koorifuu

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/article/sumo-champion-hoshoryu-fulfils-stamford-bridge-dream Mainstream sports are taking notice.

Fair. To me, it felt Kotoeiho and Oshoumi went in there with a clear assignment, but Shishi and Hitoshi just happened to go with the flow.

You underestimate how much disposable income the average middle aged Londoner got. I stood on the cheapest seats on Wednesday. Fair enough, based on the mood and chatter, most people in that area knew most rikishi - but still thought of it as a competitive tournament. Yesterday, however, I was slotted in a box. The demographic was wildly different - older upper class folks who acted like they'd gone out to the latest attraction / oddity in town. Out of 20 people around me, only a couple could name a few wrestlers.

I feel very strongly that it's the opposite. To me, if anything served as evidence of scripting, it clearly was the opening bout. An (apparent) incredible display of power to wow the unsuspecting curious visitors off the bat and raise the hype for the rest of the event - much like pro wrestling's events usually got their opener as the second most anticipated match of the card, after the main event. Grab your spectators from the start. ...Which they couldn't do here without compromising basic torikumi principles, that I assume goes beyond what they are willing to do. Much like @Kintamayama's latest reply to me - which I'm yet to reply to - I feel that many people in this forum substantially overestimate how much understanding the average event attendant has on what ozumo is and what was going on. I'm absolutely certain at least 90% of the crowd was amazed and looking forward for more, whilst only 10% recognised it as exaggerated. You can't lose credibility if your target audience isn't aware of what you're doing. Now if they went for full blown shokkiri, that'd be another story.

"Hello everyone. London is great. Thank you and see you again. Goodbye." The highlight of the day for me. I must add, however, that I feel like the disappointment's not necessarily related to the bouts being uncompetitive at best, staged at worst. It's mostly towards the organisers' dishonesty regarding that matter.

I was hoping for a jikanmae up until the end, since they were showcasing so many different particularities. Oh well.

Can confirm. Source: me. I've had enough Hiro for multiple lifetimes and that's without the earpiece. Somehow people keep trying to give me their spare ones, and I gotta stay polite when rejecting it!

Looked like Sadanoumi "went into business for himself", using wrestling slang. Shodai looked at him like 'what the hell, man' and then did a huge shrug to someone when going down the hanamichi.

Yumitori-shiki included in that list. They're giving everyone a chance to soak in the spotlight, it seems. Day 1: Hananoumi Day 2: Kototsubasa (despite Kotozakura's absence) Day 3: Kamito They are announced in Japanese, but sadly the English version skips the performer's shikona.

I feel bad for him, more than anything.

Kinbozan's fumbling "Oh no, what now?" reaction was funny to watch. I think I'm warming up to this whole concept.

Torinaoshi

Okay. Oshoumi being made to look like an absolute buffoon twice in a row must be a hierarchical thing.

The roar of applause when the announcer claimed that London was the only place to ever receive official tournaments outside Japan says otherwise. I was there on the upper circles as well. Plenty of people were familiar with a number of rikishi and sumo overall, sure. But I still heard enough misconceptions to realise that most were not familiar enough to understand that a honbasho this is not. I guess that level of familiarity is the ideal point for an event like this. People know enough to be interested, but most don't know enough to understand they're being deceived. I did my part by saying 'That's a blatant lie.' quite loudly at that part.

I don't rate Asakoryu v Sadanoumi that highly. Asakoryu's random tsuppari barrage at the start felt out of character for him, and more geared towards putting on a show. I genuinely don't remember him doing that... Aggressive double arm shoves and thrusts, sure. Chiyotaikai from Temu, not really. Oshoumi even did that puroresu-style gentle hop to help the opponent lift him.

The second half definitely felt less staged in general, but still not genuine. Maybe except for Gonoyama vs Hiradoumi. Now those two guys looked like they were going at it.

First bout in and it's already become blatant how much of a sham this is, with Kotoeiho of all people going for a massive tsuridashi WWE style... I'm sad.

He is on the dohyo right now. Tsuyuharai to Hoshoryu.

30 seconds in and the announcer had already peddled that 'only official tournament outside Japan' deception.

2.30pm is the starting time on Sunday. That might be what is being alluded to.

Were people there to see them?

Hah, I've only just seen that! Funnily enough, this was the least confident I'd ever been in a makushita game entry. I never even checked how I was doing because 'why bother'. A few minutes ago, I jokingly thought 'heh, might as well check it, who knows - I might've even won it' - followed by a 'heh!' when I opened the website. Regular service should resume for Kyushu!

Still no Sunday ticket. Have you all received everything? I'm rather worried as a neighbour tried to intercept the first envelope last time.

I find that JP>EN translations for medical conditions can be slightly misleading as JP terms can be directly converted to disproportionally alarming counterparts in EN. Wouldn't be surprised if internal bleeding here actually meant bruising - which is still internal bleeding, technically, but generally controlled and incomparably less serious than what you'd normally refer to as 'internal bleeding'.

Hope you got more luck than me! I've written at least 5 reports across 3 years on how it acts like scabbard-fish and swordfish are interchangeable when translating between English and Portuguese - and it's still wrong most of the time.