Itoyone

Kisenosato seems like the guy you should have befriended in middle school. He wasn't really popular, yet not strange enough to get bullied. The one who always had that aura about him that he's some kind of special, with a calm demeanor. Always focused and right then he already knew what he wanted to do with his life and how to follow his path. Yet peer pressure and your weak social standing somehow always got in the way of you talking to him. But he didn't care about being popular or making friends, as he knew his day would come and he didn't really care about that grey noise of social standards surrounding him. Occasionally you wonder what has happened to that guy. You meet him again at your 20th reunion, his gaze falls upon you from the other side of the room. Right this instance his glaring stare pierces your soul and you know that he completely understood your feelings towards him during the past. Giving out a little smirk, you suddenly realize that he would've liked to be your friend too. Nevertheless he didn't want to impose on you and your social peer standing. Standing there, you begin to grasp what an astonishing, interesting and magnificient human being he always has been and your only thought is "Wow, what a cool dude." Henceforth you become a fan and root for his first yusho.

This Basho has really been a wonderful experience. I can't remember the last time the final days of a Basho got me this excited. We should be basking in the high level of entertainment and the promise of things yet to come. But I have to admit this yaocho discussion has really got me thinking. For the most part of the last 10 years I simply chose to ignore it. As ignorance sure is bliss, the pure joy of viewing the bouts without second-guessing any of it seems like the best form of viewing. But as the urge to discuss sumo rose inside me, I gave the whole concept of yaocho a lot of thought and in the end, without having the transparency to grasp its real dimension, it doesn't bother me at all or doesn't even matter to me. In every sport and even in every aspect of human life, things get complicated and deals and concessions get made. How can we expect a sport to rise up and transcend the very core of human nature? After gleefully watching things play out, then checking back here to see so many yaocho theories, I can't help to think of the image of an atheist screaming in the cheerful face of someone coming out of a church, just to show their supposed intellectual superiority. Maybe we should embrace the pleasure of our pure emotions watching these rikishi battle it out instead of making everything an intellectual exercise. Enjoying a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, I still can't fathom why anyone would deliberatly diminish his overall sumo experience. Although I still love talking about Wembley Goal of 66' and I fully acknowledge how dubious things and decisions are what keeps the lore rolling, there should be no need to over-evaluate every split-second in High Definition. Maybe I'm just a romantic but still being this uplifted and not being able to stop rambling, I just couldn't help myself but really savour every moment of this sumo weekend and enjoy it like the olympian clash of titans it should be viewed as (Laughing...)​