Benevolance

I thought it's just the runner up position, regardless of how close to winning the actually were.

Anyone know how old the current Shikimori Inosuke is? He looks older than the guy retiring, but taking a Wakakoyu to the face probably ages a person a few years.

He's the one. He's still officially listed at 167cm, though I think his actual height is about 160cm? Could be wrong.

And considering that his stated goal is yokozuna...I can't imagine that wrinkle hasn't occurred to him yet.

I thought the gyoji hierarchy was pretty much a straight promotion up as the guy ahead of you retires?

I'm voting 33, as well. He's just so much better than the rest of the competition, and has demonstrated that he can go 15-0 in a tournament on a regular basis, which is quickly becoming the benchmark for the yuusho. But I can't see him wanting to fight on after he's got the record. He'll hang up the tsuna and then sleep easy on his giant horde of cash.

I wish that Ikioi would work on his killer instinct. Both this tournament and last, he's managed to lose fights where he had the advantage of his opponent, but failed to finish him off. His 9-6 wasn't bad, except that he wasn't fighting anyone particularly outstanding, and he completely fluked out in his fight against Kaisei. From M10, I felt he should have been able to pick up double digits.

I think that getting to train against better opponents will really help elevate Kise's game. If nothing else, it will help him become more familiar with the techniques and styles his opponents use.

When my wife and I visited Japan the first time and went to sumo, Hakuho had just been promoted to yokozuna. I have to admit, I became a fan of Hakuho because the Hakuho bento lunch at the kokugikan was better that the Asashoryuo bento, and because we liked Western japan more than eastern japan, so we cheered for all the 'western' wrestlers loudly. We didn't know that the east/west division was rank based, rather than location based. We're still Hakuho fans, because he's the best sumo wrestler in forever. But we both liked the Hakuho that patted his opponents and helped them up, more than the Hakuho that gives the extra shoves at the end of matches.

But that's so fitting! Baraki is a diminutive sumo wrestler. I've enjoyed following his progress to far. I hope that he continues to do well.

When he stands there like that, with the one arm holding the salt and his other elbow kind of bent and standing on the one foot, I always imagine he's about to recite "I'm a little teapot".

Whether Kotooshu gets demoted or not doesn't matter much. If he doesn't retain ozeki status, I don't see him getting back there. But he'll truck along with his brand of alright sumo, whether it's as an ozeki, sekiwake, or maegashira. Despite his frequent injuries, he seems impervious to anything career ending and always comes back for more. I'm more interested in seeing how much fighting spirit Kakuryu puts into the match. To me, this is more a test of Kakuryu's quality of character: does he come out, no nonsense, like Shohozan? Or does he fold like a cheap deck of Bulgarian cards?

Are the tsukebito usually lower-ranked stablemates?

Considering that he made ozeki without getting the required 33 wins, I'm pretty sure he can make yokozuna with something less than the required best effort.

Woah, woah. Myogiryu hasn't even made ozeki yet. The yokozuna talk is a little premature. ;-)

I love Chiyotairyu's interviews. He doesn't stick to the typical canned responses.

Aoiyama didn't show up for his match against Kotooshu, either, but he was present. Can we still that down as MIA?

Is he slapping, like, the protruding belly? Or is he striking at the trunk, like a boxer?

Didn't Kise's beya finally agree to start going to degeiko recently? Maybe getting to beat up on someone other than Takanoyama was what Kisenosato needed?

This photo here totally makes it look like Hakuho pimp-slapped Kotooshu into submission. "Bitch better have my kensho!"

Great, demote him AND break him in one bout. Kotooshu can't fight the little guys. I'm less certain that HMF will lose to either Kise or Hak. Do you think it's likely because he's not in the yuusho race, or because Hak and Kise could genuinely beat him? Against Hak, I'd see it go either way, but I don't see Kise normally being an obstacle for HMF.

Yesterday earlier in the day, I think in sandanme, one of the wrestlers had wrapped his knee poorly and it came undone during the fight. And, naturally, he stepped on it and slipped, thereby losing his bout. The east shimpan gave him a long lecture as he stepped off the dohyo, and then ex-Terao appeared to give him another lecture before letting him wander off down the tunnel in shame... I haven't seen the shimpan talk to the wrestlers much after their bouts, particularly not while the next one is starting, so it caught my attention. Edit: It was http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vap2T3BjkaU&list=PL3oHIWgGXp-8W2amS7zy1MbN_qVAf1XdZ'>Shibahara vs Rikishin.

Hakuho probably faces kise on friday, Haru on Saturday? Kise has looked really, really good. Like an actual contender. And with the way Harumafuji has been fighting, I think we'll get to see another epic yokozuna bout on senshuraku.

Kise is fighting much better this tournament. If he'd fought like this a couple years ago, he could have legitimately made ozeki. :D

Watching the Art of Sumo videos that Araibira posted, I was surprised to see that Kaio could actually fight. I'd just assumed he was a Kotooshu-type character. But I only ever watched Kaio the last three or four years of his career when he'd hit 8 wins in a tournament and stop trying, so my view on him is a bit coloured.