dingo

To add to the excellent information already presented on hakama, it is also used as the formal "competition outfit" in a few traditional Japanese sports/disciplines such as kendo, kyudo, aikido etc. So to this day whenever there's a formal competition or event in these disciplines the participants always have to wear hakama.

So Japan has elected a new leader of the governing LDP party, Shigeru Ishiba who will succeed Kishida as the next PM soon. Apparently Ishiba has a strong defence policy background. Anyone know if he's a sumo fan?

Off topic, but I wonder if they'd wheel out Terunofuji for Onosato's potential tsuna run? It's not compulsory, but for the sake of continuity and so on. I was about to say that won't Terunofuji also have a "yokozuna stock" but then I remembered that was abolished together with Hakuho's case, if I remember correctly. So he'd still need one.

I thought about Kitanoumi first. He was a chunky guy.

I thought she was notably well rehearsed in the video. When she bowed to the messengers together with Nishonoseki and Onosato, her palms and fingers were arrow-straight, hands at a perfect angle and her forehead almost touched the floor. To my admittedly untrained eye it can't get much more formal than that.

I was more thinking of Snow White and the 7 dwarves, but Chili Peppers works for me too.

Koto-hey-ho is almost as good a name as Kotoshohoho.

This is a totally unrealistic scenario. I mean, ex-rikishi complaining about second lunch?

That's one of the longest journeys the messenger has taken in modern times, I guess.

His moobs will be missed. Or not, depending on one's aesthetic sense.

It was time for Aoiyama and at least he can stay with the kyokai, something that most European rikishi haven't wanted or been able to. In fact I'm quite amazed Aoiyama managed to get a kabu. Perhaps his fellow Bulgarian Naruto gave him a few tips.

I think a lot of people (not on this forum but in general) started following sumo later and only saw the later part of Terunofuji's career. Whereas Takakeisho's ketteisen henka was much more recent. That might explain the divergence, if there is any.

Interesting, I only knew that Finland claims a lot of Santa-related stuff, including Santa's village. So it's a faceoff between two countries who is the Santa-est. A ketteisen one might say

50 years is an incredibly long time to pursue the sumo lifestyle as a gyoji. I can't even begin to fathom how much sumo is part of his life and how much it means to him. Despite all the mishaps and errors, he's always seemed deeply dedicated. Thank you and I hope he can enjoy his well earned retirement.

Thank you for the many photos! I didn't even know Nishonoseki has an okami-san! I must've missed something. Miyagino has pretty nice handwriting, looks well practiced.

Kotoshohoho. For extra fun during Christmas.

Seems like Shishi is the only sekitori in Ikazuchi beya. Next in rank is Kinotsukasa at east makushita 48, and there's 5 more guys in sandanme and jonidan. So Shishi won't have the fortune of a big beya rikishi either.

By any half competent maegashira. For example Ryuden, Hokutofuji, Sadanoumi, Tamawashi if I'm looking at rikishi who Shishi might be facing next basho.

Shishi still doesn't convince me. His sumo is so uncontrolled, he'll be eaten alive in makuuchi. Now watch me get it totally wrong and Shishi get a sansho next basho. That was an epic struggle between Hokutofuji and Midorifuji, perhaps more epic than would be possible with a healthy Hokutofuji. He did win in the end after finally overcoming his opponent with a strong push, but my heart jumped a bit at the sight of what looked like Midorifuji's knee crumbling. Fortunately he seemed fine. Wakatakakage is back with a bang. Jun-yusho, beating the winner and getting a sansho all looks like he's ready to pick up where he left off when he got injured. Let's see next basho how he can adjust to stiffer competition and whether he can challenge for sanyaku again. His upper body does seem a bit bulkier so perhaps that will help. Kagayaki got rid of Gonoyama surprisingly easily so I don't think he's done with makuuchi just yet despite the bad score this basho. Today he seemed like he should be able to beat most juryo quite nicely. Haven't looked at the promotion thread yet but with 9 wins I hope Oho has done enough to earn his sanyaku debut. Wakamotoharu will leap over him for sure, but perhaps the kyokai will feel a bit generous to Taiho's grandson. Beating two ozeki should be sign enough that he can compete successfully at that level. I think this was one of the few times someone pulled a successful hatakikomi on Onosato. He won't really mind but I hope he learns something from it and doesn't just forget it in the yusho and ozeki celebrations. Who am I kidding, he probably will, but a good lesson by Abi anyway. If Onosato at least remembers the feeling of finishing the yusho basho with a slightly humiliating loss, he will have learned at least a bit. And just like that the basho is over. We lost an injured (ex)ozeki and gained a new one. The other healthier ozeki survived with 8 wins so it's a happy ending for everyone. All things considered, a pretty great basho and I'm looking forward to the next one already. How will Onosato debut at the ozeki rank? Will Kirishima keep his ozeki return challenge going? Is Takayasu finally going to get a yusho? (OK, perhaps too far). Lots of excitement ahead for the last basho of the year!

He's bounced between juryo and makuuchi before. I think this basho was just a bad one for him and we'll see him back in makuuchi in a few basho.

Awesome bout between Hokutofuji and Ryuden. Both rikishi gave it their all and were visibly exhausted by the end. Amazingly Hokutofuji managed to outwrestle Ryuden on the belt, though it was clearly a desperation move. I thought Hokutofuji was safe so did he re-enter the basho just out of rikishi pride? I couldn't have guessed Kagayaki getting his second win of the basho so far against Endo, but he kept Endo away from the mawashi well and actually pushed fairly hard. Too bad the win is not gonna help him much against dropping to juryo. Oho will be quite unfortunate if his much-awaited sanyaku debut is overtaken by Wakamotoharu jumping in front of him. After the matta today he seemed a bit rattled and gave away a good mawashi grip to Nishikigi right away, who didn't have any trouble in converting it to a win. Actually, Oho might first be overtaken by Shodai who somehow has ended up with 10 wins at M4 and a good shot at komusubi (and presumably a new ozeki run ;) ) Kotozakura survived a pretty good pulldown attempt by Abi and secured his kachikoshi, avoiding a kadoban matchup with Hoshoryu tomorrow. He'll be quite relieved this basho is finally over soon. Hoshoryu however will have to win if he wants to avoid kadoban. Let's see if his itchy back will be scratched or not. Nerves of steel by Onosato to overcome the matta, his 0-3 record and potential yusho jitters to decisively push out Hoshoryu and definitely claim his ozeki rank as well as the yusho. To be honest, after the matta I thought he was toast, yet he showed that he can remain calm in the face of challenge. His first push from tachiai was super impressive and basically won him the bout. I suppose belief in his own ability helps a lot. Congrats shin-ozeki and two-time yusho winner in only 9 basho!

It occurs to me that in a time when we sometimes complain about lack of great ozeki, he was one. At least compared to his peers. Yeah there's been kadoban but it's not for his lack of effort or determination, but lack of health. When healthy he was a major force.

We can analyse and argue about the frames endlessly, but the shimpan have to make the decision within minutes and without seeing any video. If in doubt, torinaoshi is the right decision in my opinion. That also applies to the cases earlier this basho where for some reason they didn't call it.

Just a year ago in September he got his final yusho, though 11-4 with a playoff win against Atamifuji. Next basho he once again attempted yokozuna promotion, but once again failed. What a difference a year makes. 2024 has only been suffering for him so at least that's done and he can look forward to a hopefully long oyakata career. Eve though he didn't make it to yokozuna, I hope he will have the same no-regrets outlook on his career that Kisenosato constantly mentions. Interestingly, since that September 2023 playoff Atamifuji hasn't been doing well either with just one minimum kachikoshi.

What a banger of a day, both on and off the dohyo. Bushozan had a great start to the basho but now is in freefall (not too difficult with his body..). Gotta wonder what happened after day 5 that he ended up with a straight makekoshi record by today. Daieisho is having a late surge this basho and Takayasu has already impressed me by staying in the race that far when I thought he'd be done in a few days. Shows what I know of sumo... Hoshoryu looked like he was taking the bout vs Kirishima personally. No doubt he was also motivated by his 6-6 record and danger of going kadoban. In any case that was vintage aggressive Hoshoryu and as a result Onosato got a nice cushion with arguably the most serious competitor for the yusho race already before his own bout. Kirishima hasn't wasted any time in getting a new ozeki campaign going and still can get a respectable 12-3 if he wins out,which would be a great starting point. Kotozakura lasted great for the first bout, but he seemed thoroughly knackered already before the torinaoshi started. No wonder Onosato got an easy win in the rematch. Ozeki should be certain now and the yusho very likely as well. In juryo, Onosato's former supposed big rival Hakuoho is 6-7 down. He's still young but the struggle seems to be huge. And Takakeisho, farewell to the ozeki and welcome to the Hamster oyakata. It was great fun while it lasted. Didn't expect Terunofuji would outlast him but a yokozuna has his privileges.