Kasutera

There is one solution, and that is to only allow Hakuho to wrestle bears.

I had a very very brief Facebook conversation with Brody last night and he said he was "having a blast." No news on shikona yet.

The bad results from Shohozan starts more os less with his marriage. Coincidence? (In jonokuchi...) I prefer to keep an optimistic outlook on love that this means his wife is so amazing it makes it harder for him to care as much about sumo :-P

Nooooo ACL injuries are the worst :-( I hope Endo can gambarize to the fullest.

Very exciting day of the basho, I feel like everyone I wanted to win won (with the exception of my hopeless love for Shohozan). I feel like Gagamaru is now becoming awesome JUST to spite me. I should start down-talking more people to motivate them to succeed.

OW OW OW OW OW my GOD just looking at that picture hurts!

I was thinking about how as much as I like to see Ichinojo win, I had wished it had been a bit more of an exciting match. It's a funny thing about Ichinojo is that sometimes when he wins he makes it look less like he was better and more like his opponent is worse. I'm saying that only because he doesn't have as flashy or dynamic a style as say, Harumafuji. He seems to wait to take calculated advantages of an opponent being off-balance, which for someone of his size is a little weird. I'd like to see what Ichinojo can do when he IS more explosive and moves forward. Actually, I realized how stupid this post sounded, because what happened in his Kisenosato match IS what happens when he's more explosive and moves forward. †​Never mind me.‹

I was thinking about how as much as I like to see Ichinojo win, I had wished it had been a bit more of an exciting match. It's a funny thing about Ichinojo is that sometimes when he wins he makes it look less like he was better and more like his opponent is worse. I'm saying that only because he doesn't have as flashy or dynamic a style as say, Harumafuji. He seems to wait to take calculated advantages of an opponent being off-balance, which for someone of his size is a little weird. I'd like to see what Ichinojo can do when he IS more explosive and moves forward.

Man I have to say one thing I absolutely love about sumo is how unpredictable it can be. It's like Gagamaru heard me talking smack and then decided to start showing how good he can be. Then again, I always wonder how much that very "unpredictability" is due to yaocho (NOT talking in Gagamaru's specific case, I just mean in general when a rikishi all of a sudden starts doing better or worse than he was doing previously.

It's hard not to love Aminishiki. He has a nearly perfect textbook tachiai every time he gets off the line. He gets his head in the sternum and his hands under the ribs, it's like he's just doing butsukari-geiko. If any young rikishi should try to emulate someone's tachiai, it's him!

I think lack of balance is a general problem for guys of Gagamaru's size (and perhaps more importantly, shape). The thing is, back a few years ago he was able to bring a good amount of speed to the dohyo so he often just steamrolled his opponents before they had any chance of unbalancing him. That speed is mostly gone, so he's just a sitting duck much of the time now. I was starting to think about how, since the days of, say, Musashimaru, we haven't had any Yokozuna that had humongous bellies. It makes me wonder why we don't see a wing back towards more rikishi trying to be leaner and muscular, Chiyonofuji-style, to compete with the Mongolians who are quick and don't carry too much excess baggage.

I was about to come into this topic again to say YES! Ichinojo wrestled today like I know he can!

At the risk of alienating some people who might be fans: I really, really, really dislike Gagamaru. He always seems clumsy in the ring, like he doesn't know how to handle the size of his own body, often slipping and falling. I used to hate Aoiyama for this same reason but I have to admit Aoiyama is slightly growing on me and has been showing some skill recently.

Ichinojo and Osunaarashi disappoint me so much lately. Last year they both had bashos where they looked really impressive and were grabbing kinboshis, and now they just both look... bleh. Maybe it's injuries and lack of training time, maybe it's luck, but I'd like to see them both do better!

It's kind of funny how even among the Asian rikishi you can always tell which are mixed-race by who has back hair or not.

"EMERGENCY MEDECAL SERVICES" You think they could have someone proofread the English before the decals get printed.

Thank you very much, Asashosakari!

Hi everyone, Often when pictures are posted of keiko sessions, mention will be made of rikishi visiting from other heya to participate, especially if it's upper-ranked sekitori. I was curious as to why these visits happen and if there was any kind of rule, written or unwritten, regarding how and why visits happen. 1) Will rikishi traveling far from their home heya ask to train at whatever heya they are closest to so they don't lose training time? 2) Is there a certain rank that a rikishi must be at to have the privilege to train at another heya? 3) On the other side of that token, is there an obligation after reaching a certain rank, say Ozeki or Yokozuna, that you will visit other heya to train for the enrichment of the younger rikishi/upholding the image of a champion rikishi taking on all comers? 4) Do rikishi only visit other heya in their same ichimon or are inter-ichimon visits permitted? Sorry if any of these questions are easily google-able, but even with my Japanese skills, when I see a search page full of kanji, my eyes cross :-P Thanks!

Hyaku-man-san looks like if they made the guy on the Pringles can into a Teletubby.

Something tells me that the introduction of taller foreign rikishi had something to do with it...

What an intense keiko! I am working up a sweat just watching that video and it really makes me hate that I have to wait until Saturday to put on my mawashi and practice myself! I'm feeling hyped up!

All I can think of is Ichinojokoryu

Honestly, a diplomatic passport for an athlete? What kind of banana republic is Mongolia? Keep in mind the U.S. once sent Dennis Rodman to North Korea.

I can't decide if this is better or worse than the creepy anime girlfriend pillows. Now female/gay otaku can have someone to cuddle with, too!

Translated below for others' (and your) convenience! Sorry if there are any mistakes.