Adil

I, for one, was not surprised by Aoiyama's behavior. He never shows any kind of respect/concern for the defeated opponent. Every time he pushes someone out and they take a painful/dangerous fall, Aoiyama always instantly wheels away. With other rikishi, you will usually see a helping hand, a hand gesture or simply a few second wait to see that the defeated opponent is OK and is getting up on their own.

Is there a pic of this banzuke online? I see it mentioned on https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/両國梶之助_(初代), but I can't seem to find a pic of it. The oldest one I can find online is from 1788.

Ah yes, the good old 角界... Google Translate still translates it as "horny world". There was a lot of snickering on the forum a few years ago when someone used Google Translate to read a Japanese article on sumo and found them talking about the horny world instead. On the topic of GT butchering sumo related terms, I think "diarrhea in the sky" takes the cake. "geri" can mean 'kick' (蹴り) or 'diarrhea' (下痢). Since the original Japanese had it in hiragana, GT didn't have the kanji to help it determine the correct meaning, and hence diarrhea instead of kick.

Is Wakanosato the east side shimpan today? One of the things that I always find interesting is how the rikishi greet the oyakata before stepping onto the dohyo and the oyakata acknowledges their greeting with a nod. Today, Wakanosato didn't acknowledge a single greeting. I think Terunofuji didn't greet him. Teru just adjusted his kesho-mawashi and stepped onto the dohyo. Urakaze on the west side acknowledged the greetings as usual. Maybe it is a trivial thing. It's just that I have never seen this before.

Just watched today's matches. Terunofuji's kainahineri reminded me of the match between Asashoryu and Kotooshu (day 13, 2010 January basho). Asashoryu pulled a brilliant kainahineri to win the match. Sadly, that turned out to be his last tournament. He only had two more matches after that (against Harumafuji & Hakuho) before his retirement.

I'm going by memory here, so I hope one of you folks who remembers this better than me can throw some light on this: Up until a few years ago, in situations like this, it was a judgement call for the shimpan about whether the hair pull was intentional, or whether it was a case of the fingers getting stuck in the mage unintentionally. However, this was changed a few years ago and it was decided that in either case (intentional mage pull or fingers getting stuck in the mage unintentionally), a hansoku would be called. This was done to make the decision-making more objective (presumably). Does anybody remember this?

Is this what you had in mind (nodowa + shove backwards)? I remember calling it a choke-slam-otoshi when it happened. Harumafuji also gave Kisenosato a choke-slam-otoshi once, and that one looked even more devastating than this one.

The first time I watched the regulation match between Takakeisho and Terunofuji, I thought Terunofuji jumped onto Takakeisho to make a point, but watching the replay, I tend to think the jump may have been to ensure his knee doesn't hit the dohyo first. By the way, is it my imagination, or did Terunofuji look like he was ready to burst into tears at any moment during the interview?

I don't understand this: Nishikido has had trouble saying anything coherently when explaining monoii decisions for years now. Why do they keep subjecting him to this? Oh, I see there was a second monoii. At least he got the second one out of the way with minimum fuss.

Even more than Shoudai, my hat is off to Moti zeki. Well, it was already off because of your knowledge and experience, but this time, I am throwing it out the window altogether. You kept calling him the next/future ozeki from the beginning (Shoudai, not the hat), even though at that time, another rising star looked to be more exciting (Mitakeumi). For a while, it looked like Shoudai might not reach the top with some so-so results, but here we are. Three cheers for Moti!

Enho vs Terutsuyoshi: There are very few things in sumo more satisfying than seeing a certified and professional henka-er getting henkaed.

[Please skip if you find facetious remarks offensive] Will being kyujo for three basho interrupt his ozeki run?

You are not the only one! Not that I hate the poor guy, but I am really rooting for him to "achieve" a 0-15 record, just because I have never seen it happen ever since I started watching sumo. Twice, I almost saw it happen: 1) Daido in the 2013 July basho; he lost the first 14 matches before winning on the last day to end with 1-14. (Damn you Daido!) 2) Shohozan in the 2015 haru basho; his only win was on the 14th day and he ended the basho with 1-14. Hoping for "better" luck this time! Hey wait a minute! I just remembered... Daido is now Onomatsu oyakata, Onosho's oyakata.

What are the odds of two maegashira 17 yusho in one calendar year?

Lady's and gentlemen, in today's news: a pig was seen flying, and Kotoshogiku survived a henka attempt.