Benevolance

Shodai shows up with a legit tachi-ai.

Shout out to Kotoeko for having such a nice mawashi colour. I find it so soothing. Maybe he finds it soothing, too, which is why he's got no fight in him?

And 10 wins starts his tsuna run.

Shohozan, spotting moto-Goeidou sitting ringside, ignores his opponent at the tachi-ai, and instead charges out of the ring and tackles the former ozeki, losing the match but winning the hearts and minds of everyone, everywhere.

Endo doesn't show up on time for his match on day one. Thinking quickly, Tobizaru grabs his Endo Butt Pillow (TM) and, tying it under his mawashi, wrestles in Endo's place. Nobody notices. Or maybe nobody cares. Endozaru wins. The ladies swoon.

And usually a 300+ cushion of posts before you actually get to current spoilers. For some reason, I thought yesterday was the start of the basho, probably because last year the start coincided with the daylight savings time change. I was sad. But I got an extra hour of sleep, so it's a well-rested sadness.

Perhaps they could try and work in 角番 to the deshi shikona somehow?

I named my perfect IV Shiny snubull Shohozan.

I think Psyduck is the perfect personification, no pokemonification - of impotent gyoji rage.

I can't help but like this guy now.

This coincides brilliantly with the release of Legends Arceus in 2022. My kids already enjoy watching sumo when it's on, but they were super excited to see sumo and Pokemon together. My oldest hoped that "the pokemon would sumo fight in the ring". And it got me thinking, maybe it's Hiyonoyama's time to shine! Can the NHK mascot take down Pikachu?

Well, the little hand points to the hour, and the big hand points to the minutes...

Probably, but I have a Canadian work ethic.

With Hakuho towing the line, and nobody getting busted for drugs, or for violating covid rules at hostess bars, or random Olympic speculation...the gap between basho feels longer than ever. I already miss the yokozuna and his wacky antics.

it's not something I paid a lot of attention to specifically, but it seemed like Hakuho and Kise had new swords forged for them and presented as gifts. While still an fine and expensive gift, that act doesn't seem different than fashioning a new kesho mawashi; it's part advertisement, part gift, you know? This is the first time I've noticed a museum relic with some historical significance bequeathed to a yokozuna. Doubtlessly, it's happened a lot; I've just been obtuse in observing previously.

I would assume that the swords are just on loan to the yokozuna while he retains the rank, and Terunofuji would give them back when he retires?

I seriously don't know why he didn't try koshikudake more often. Probably his best technique. It's was 100% effective the time he employed it.

I remember that! It was, like so much of what Hakuho did, perfectly delivered and executed with a little 'tap' as Kise went by to make it hatakikomi. My friends and I watching could not stop laughing. I've warmed a lot to Kise over the years, but at the time we all felt the villain got what he deserved for roughing up the geek.

I loved Hakuho. In a lot of ways, he was the embodiment of what I feel the ozeki/yokozuna rank ought to be: this implacable wall that lesser wrestlers crash against and fail. The fact that he could and would win in so many different ways kept his frequent victories from ever feeling stale to me, and when other wrestlers were able to overcome him, their triumph felt much greater. In some ways, it might have been nice if the ending of his career were more clear cut. But then again, this gradual tapering out does seem to be the norm. No top competitor is going to call it quits until it's absolutely clear they cannot perform any longer, so maybe this was to be expected and simply felt exasperated due to the pandemic. And, perhaps, exasperated by the vacuum of talent I perceive at the top of the banzuke right now. I think what I'm going to miss most, however, is Hakuho's dohyo iri. I thought he had such a smooth, powerful performance. Maybe it's just because he got to practice it so much? But it was always a pleasure to watch. I hope that he's able to find his niche with the kyokai, simply because he seems to be one of those rare people who is not only good at doing a thing, but also at coaching others to do that thing.

My first thought was Terao, but no. The former Terao did have a stint in sanyaku, even though it was brief relative to his career. And I'd somehow missed Neo-Terao's retirement in July 2020. I plugged the data into an excel spreadsheet and looked for duplicates and there are a surprising number to go through. Dewanohana / Dewanohana are the first pair that seem plausible. Same heya, no career overlap. Not sure how to run down the familial connection angle though, beyond the obvious surnames. I'll go through the rest of the spreadsheet later and post more pairs.

I'd would willingly suffer a modest amount of blunt force head trauma to hang out drinking and doing karaoke with Harumafuji and Hakuho. To be clear: it's probably considerably less blunt force head trauma than if I hung out and did sumo with them, so I think all parties involved would call this a win.

Yes.

Given that a lot of the cost is probably land in Tokyo, wouldn't heya build multi-unit structures and rent out the unused portions of the buildings?

I'm kind of impressed that Kiribayama was able to hoist up Chiyomaru like that.

Takakeisho needs to channel his inner velociraptor and go for the belt like a hungry therapod.