Highway

That's what I'm talking about, Aoiyama comes back with some fire. If only he can keep the fire for the rest of the basho...and his career...

100% daylight robbery. I have no idea what's going on there. Aoiyama clearly won that, it wasn't even close. Credit to him for taking it without complaining, I would have been tempted to pull a Hakuho. Like it's one thing to be unlucky in a disputed decision, but that was straight out his win.

This is nuts - two yokozuna out at the start again? It seems like it's been forever and a day since all the yokozuna began and finished a basho. For a couple of years now it seems there is some kind of injury curse affecting the yokozuna rank.

Darn, so looks like not quite certain at all that Aoiyama will be back in makuuchi...waiting game...

I am delighted to see this. Wish the roles were reversed, but still, much joy all around here. Tochinoshin has long had amazing raw strength, this basho he utilized it to perfection. Hopefully it inspires Aoyiama too to focus and sharpen his raw gifts. Only thing disappointing this basho was again, yokuzunas drop out and it's been forever since a full line-up or even mostly full-line up of top guys have finished a basho. On the other hand, Tochi's example should be taken up by others - if you have a serious injury that definitely needs time to heal, much rather to drop out and drop down for as long as it takes and then fight your way back up, then suffer through a slow degeneration into nothingness.

Weird basho, so many injuries/withdraws again. But congrats to Hakuho, what more can one say.

Yay Aoiyama is back - did not expect him to recover so soon Will take a brave man to bet against Hakuho at this stage...

Aye. Surely it means he's out of the basho?

Harumafuji is like a tornado, a force of nature, never know which way he's gonna swirl. Either gonna tear the house down, or fall flat on his face.

What a turnaround this will end up if Harumafuju pulls it off tomorrow. But I am predicting Goeido will lose the first, and win the second.

hah that's fantastic that my man Aoiyama is back tomorrow - but fighting Harumafuji....

wow. I was looking at the schedule for day 1, and thought no way is that complete, they must still be updating it or something...3 Yokozuna gone and my man Aoiyama I'm gonna have to think about who to root for...Goeido maybe

My man Aoiyama....needs a big change in strategy/consistency if he is to continue his good form. He's shown that he can't handle really tough opposition. I suppose that's true for most, but he hasn't looked to have potential against the top guns for a while now. Hopefully this will change this basho.

Yes admittedly it should have been a do-over, Aoiyama's match. Takayasu offered some good hope there, but was not to be. This is possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity for Aoiyama, it is super exciting, but still not in his hands.

I must admit they have been giving Aoiyama a fairly easy run. They must really want to keep the intrigue in the basho.

Dream start for my man Aoiyama. It's gonna collapse as soon as he has to go against someone really serious, but fun while it lasts. Very hard to bet against Hakuho this basho.

Why can't Aoiyama give it so much of a go every bout. :(

Kise looks so calm and composed even when he's in a bad spot, and yes his bouts are the most interesting so far this basho. But looks like Hakuho wants the throne back.

Terunofuji, what's behind his crazy drastic performance transformations? I know injuries can zap you of everything, including strength, but the past few tournaments it was like Terunofuji with some hidden kryptonite around his neck, to normal super strong Terunofuji now.

Echoing the thoughts of others, I too think rematches need to be employed much more often rather than highly subjective "dead body" decisions. I get that they have a schedule and can't spend too much time on extra matches, but perhaps they can speed some proceedings up. Especially for matches that could have yusho implications, rematches would be much preferred.

Right, really did not expect that from Hakuho. If it's the injury, then yeah, I suppose sometimes the smallest (seemingly) of injuries can down giants of the sport.

delighted for Kisenosato. Fully deserved after all this time. Hakuho's tournament, including this match, was a weird one though. He never looked weak, he always looked in control, most of these 4 losses were some weird self-defeating momentary slip ups. Not too sure what's up, I guess sometimes that's just the way the ball bounces.

The 15-year Odyssey has reaching its reward. Kise was always one of my favorites....so, so, so happy for him. Seeing him tear up hits hard.

- Has Osunaarashi lost a fair bit of mojo due to his weight loss? Doesn't have nearly as much confidence or aggression as he had before. - Yeah, Kaisei and Aoiyama have found their level more or less. Will overwhelm you if you're not ready for them, but are pretty helpless against some intelligent sumo. - I really hope Kisenosato has pull this basho off. The path is paved for him, many times in the past too yeah, but every dog needs to have his day eventually. - Giku's last stand tomorrow? Though I can see him beating Kakury, the latter isn't in form either. Hope Giku can power up that train again.

Congrats to Kakuryu.....for a long time I didn't really like him much, but he has grown on me, always cool as a cucumber no matter what happens. 3 yokozuna, but all very different flavors.