Benevolance

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.

All these 7-7 matchups are going to do is add fuel to the fire that rikishi conveniently happen to win when they've got 7 wins on the last day.

Oh, man. I only just realized that the the equivalent of the folding chair in sumo is the zabuton and Hakuho is going to have to hit Terunofuji REALLY HARD with that pillow to have any effect on the yusho race.

I don't think that Takakeisho is going to willingly make it easy for Terunofuji, but I don't think he's going to represent an obstacle to him, either. So for Onosho and Myogiryu, I think their best bet now is to convince Hakuho to show ringside before the match and hit Terunofuji with a folding chair while the gyoji isn't looking.

I cannot wait for the Onosho vs Myogiru playoff for the yusho on Day 15.

MOOOOOOOOOOT.

Okay, let's say Mitakeumi defies statistics and his own talent and goes 13-2, to jun-yusho Terunofuji. That puts him at 31 wins over three tournaments. Could he get the ozeki nod? The answer is no. And I'm mostly posting this because it'll quite probably make Mitakeumi lose tonight, rendering all discussion moot.

Fortunately, Terunofuji has got another 75 more kimarite to choose from before he is forced to start losing to Hokutofuji.

But then he got promoted and the YDC was all, "You can't go using your secret Mongolian bionic terror eye lasers on opponents anymore because it's un-yokozuna-like".

Oh. Sure! The yusho pick is easy...once Hakuho is out of the basho. Us early Hakuho pickers aren't going to take this lying down. We are going to form a posse. And we're gonna drive on down to your house, and we're going watch some sumo with you. And we're going to heckle Terunofuji for 2 hours in the form of Broadway musical revue while you watch, helpless to stop us, and the worst songs get stuck in your head. How do you like that now, punk!?

That is correct.

The real truth is that Hakuho is suddenly vulnerable thanks to Shonanzakura's unexpected intai.

And they took away his weed.

It hear it happened during the Nagoya basho. I imagine he'll be joining his brother in MMA soon.

No, SIX kinboshi!

We'll always have Shohozan.

I think Hakuho takes it again, Shodai jun yusho.

Oh! If Hakuho retires next tournament, that is PROOF that Hakuho used forbidden Mongolian magics to create a sumo simulacrum that protected Hakuho from suffering losses. With his final horcrux gone following Shonanzakura's intai, the dai yokozuna is now vulnerable to defeat.