Iginishiki2

Indeed, there was some serious gyoji bowling involved today.

I really hope Kise makes it this time. Anything can happen, still, and in any case it's far too early to jump aboard the Yokozuna hype train, but he is the best Ozeki in the current roster, hands down, and it would be a well deserved Yusho for him.

Might be something about random doofuses winning (courtesy of and kudos to Randomitsuki here).

Also, a completely random note, but there are exactly three Makuuchi rikishi with a 10-1 score and mirrored three with 1-10.

I can only agree - Kisenosato toppling Kakuryu today only added to the excitement .At this point, I will be rooting for any of these two to take the yusho, although if someone else sneaks it in, so be it, too, can't wait to see what happens next!

We have that foretold random doofus win there! :D

It looked to me as if Harumafuji was kind of knocked out by the initial head (temple?) bonk at the tachi-ai which cost him balance and coordination, and ultimately, the bout.

This is single-handedly the best comedy stuff I have seen this year and for some reason I have tended to watch more of those this year than ever before so indeed, hats off to you, sir! In the context, it's hilarious beyond words.

Fair point there, after all, Kinta is the one spotting lizard people in the crowd, so it must be a thing! On a more serious note, this has been an exciting basho to watch in many ways. I never thought I would actually say this before Aki, but I am rooting for Goeido to pull it off.

I suspect Kise's records would look somewhat better, too, if he was allowed to face three more opponents of the Tamawashi/Sadanoumi/Toyonoshima level every basho rather than Hakuho/Kotoshogiku/Tochiozan (or whomever you want to equate to Takanohana/Wakanohana/Takatoriki)...Edit: Make that four, I forgot about Akinoshima. That brought me back to a thought I had on Senshuraku - Shohozan is the new Takatoriki (v. 201x). Also, I wholeheartily agree that Kisenosato is the best of the current Ozeki crop. Is he a yokozuna level? It is very hard to judge when there is Hakuho around who is a living and active history book of records, plus two other Yokozuna(e) who have to struggle with this fact alone. I would say he is 50-50 there given the current banzuke and opponents.

I admit, I can't say I have been a fan or an anti-fan of Kaisei for quite a long time, but I can say he has developed and the sanyaku debut was not one of those occurrences which do happen once in a while because statistics, he's looking solid lately. Kisenosato... slowly but steadily growing on me for the past two years or so. It would be nice if he won this one. His Ozeki tenure has been pretty consistent and he can definitely pull off a good basho. I will not yet say he is of Yokozuna calibre (I have to see if he has overcome whatever hurdle so often brought him down and hard, which I also personally believe to define the O/Y mark), but crowning his already solid career with a Yusho would be something I would like to see happening. If more is to come after that, by all means, yes. And a late note I just thought about. Ichinojo... he has the size. He has the potential. He is an archetypical 'tank' rikishi to me, his size alone proves a great ally in terms of absorbing whatever is coming his way. If he finds a way to use it as a launching pad for counterattacking or otherwise exploiting his natural resources, he will be great. Otherwise... Kotonowaka v. 2.0?

Another factor is that the manoeuvre was pulled off against a fellow yokozuna. Still not a yokozuna move, per se, but a bit less of a slight than if pulled off against a joi rikishi, IMO. I think both points mentioned above and regarding the viewer reactions are correct - it was a bit of an overreaction to the bout alone, but it makes much more sense as a summary of the extra shoves and such Hakuho displayed as of late.

The final bout was more of... I don't know? Kind of "if you fight with a sword, you die by a sword" type of lesson to me. Not exactly the classic non-henka Harumafuji pulls off sometimes, but also not too far away from that.

Style-wise, yes, I think Harumafuji is well-suited to take Hakuho on and down. The problem I see is the shape Harumafuji is in - he seems to host an injury which does not bode well for tomorrow. We'll see, though.

Yup, Shodai is slowly growing on me, he is not super explosive or flashy, mayhaps, but he is very efficient in his sumo. Also, Se Kotoyuuki next basho, will be interesting to see if it's a one-off peak or the beginning of a more regular performance at this level.