Morty

When the benchmark is Hakuho and Asashoryu then it can only trend downwards from there. I know a lot of people on the forum think the overall quality has dropped (and maybe it has) but if I'm honest, I prefer this "who knows who is going to win" era, rather than the boring procession of Hak or Asa winning five times per year, with someone else occasionally taking a yusho when they have an off fortnight. Unpredictability is fun.

I wouldn't be surprised if Shohozan gets a win and then retires as well

I reckon that the Powers That Be will do whatever they want and if they feel like promoting him, they will... That's how they usually operate

Man Takarafuji is strong. Aoiyama put all of his 200kg weight on him going forward, gave him his strongest shoves, was down low so he had leverage, and Takarafuji just shrugged it off and pushed him backwards. Repeatedly. I'm not sure how he lost that. He may have short(ish) arms but I wouldn't want to arm wrestle him - he'd pull your arm off.

Interesting watching the older (ie over 30) guys recently. Okinoumi, Myogiryu and Tamawashi look to be having a late career flourish, the Geek seemed (until yesterday) to have worked out how to adapt his sumo to deal with his declining power, Takarafuji seems to be just doing what he has always done. But it seems like the end is very nigh for Shohozan, and poor Tochinoshin looks completely shot and unable to do anything like the sumo he has always relied on (ie power, power, power), leaving him without many options. I know he went 10-5 last basho but, he is clearly in steep decline since he lost the Ozeki rank.

Takakeisho looks fit for the first time in a while. To push back Terunofuji that way is not easy yet he made it look easy. And that Asanoyama/Endo match was the best sumo bout I have seen in a fair while. Great, great sumo from both of them

+1 for Cameo. Kudos.

This is one of my favourite things about sumo - it is incredibly hard to reach these top ranks. The bar is set really high and most rikishi don't get remotely close to making it. The rank of Yokozuna is one of the most exclusive clubs in all of world sport. I think many Western fans expect an orderly progression towards these ranks based on set rules (eg 33 in 3 for Ozeki, two consecutive yushos for Yokozuna) and get surprised when it doesn't always work that way, because the way this stuff is done in sumo is culturally different to what we expect. I think this situation is the same - Hakuho will get to do whatever he wants until he stops winning when he does compete, because he is Hakuho the GOAT. If he wants to attend only one basho per year he can so long as he posts 12 wins in that basho. If he stops winning in the bashos he does attend then it will be all over.

That was a great basho, thoroughly enjoyed it. With everything that is going on in the world right now it was nice to have a decent basho, even just as a distraction from all the scary stuff. I must admit I have struggled to stay focused on sporting events recently and I had moments in this basho where I drifted off a bit. But I'm glad we got through without any major covid-19 impacts and that everyone came out the other side safe. And that a guy like Terunofuji who managed to come back from that much adversity, was the story of the basho. Great stuff. Stay safe everyone, it is great to be able to share the sumo with such a fabulous online community. Hopefully we can reconvene for another one of these in a couple of months.

Kisenosato - five and half years after he first became komusubi to become Ozeki. During that time he was never ranked lower than M6 (once) was in the joi the whole time, and had 22 basho in Sanyaku. Lots and lots of people thought he would never make it to Ozeki. Then many people (including me) thought he would never get the rope. Some rikishi just take time to find the way to break through to the next level.

Hak looked suspiciously like a man who had just blown his back out on his walk back around the doyho and then to the back afterwards. I wouldn't be surprised if he is kyujo tomorrow

Another headbutt-tastic bout today between Aoiyama and Takakeisho. The latter was super punchy at the end, i thought he was going to collapse and he didn't look like he really knew where he was. Every time I see these guys whacking heads like that it makes me cringe.

Ooof, that Kotoshogiku-Tamawashi bout was brutal - about six headbutts, both of them going for it. The way it finished, right after the last of the full contact head clashes, made me think Giku rang Tamawashi's bell a bit. Watching it in slow motion made me wince, a lot. Tamawashi likes to use the head as a weapon but he met his match today.

Awesome tightrope walking display though. He spent more time in that match walking the tawara than he didn't.

Hakuho is currently back in his "playing with his food" style of sumo. So I can't see it happening