Katooshu

Hakuyozan........how many times have we been through this now His blatant late pushes have been going on too long. Wish they would be taken more seriously.

Onosato beat Kotoshoho clearly despite the tumble. Kotoshoho was standing half outside the dohyo before Onosato was even airborne, and was already turned away before he hit the ground. Better safe then sorry, but if they aren't going to apply that consistently I'd wish they review calls that deserve reviewing and not bouts that should have been obvious.

Kirishima facing 1-7 Shonanoumi was a bit bleh. Will they keep matching Shonanoumi with top guys, even with that record?

It was fun to watch, love the salt showers.

I notice a certain ex-Ozeki is on a roll in lower makuuchi, can't count him out, right?

What does Onosato need to hit to make ozeki for November more likely than not? Would 12-9-12 (33) without a yusho on the second 12 be so different from Takakeisho's unsuccessful 9-13-11?

Kind of sad to watch Kinbozan these days. Got off to such a good start in makuuchi but seems like just a few basho in he was already beaten up and piling up nagging injuries. Didn't get much time to hit a stride in the top division, and now regularly takes hard losses and looks pained, sometimes even just walking onto the dohyo.

I think he just forgot to bow. Probably was inside his own head upset with the loss and just walked out without thinking of it. Been there. Not a great look, but it seemed unintentional enough that it's not a big deal to me. The refusal to put a hand down vs Gonoyama was more annoying.

His dad force fed him from a young age for sumo, don't think that's genetic. Neither of his parents are hefty either. I don't think he was chubby when he was in karate prior to sumo.

He looks pretty good for a nearly 50-year-old rikishi

Onosato doesn't seem to get out much for keiko does he? The results are excellent so far, but hope he's not so insulated that it hinders his development. Then again, maybe some rikishi wear themselves out with all the high level training bouts......feels like I see Kirishima everywhere.

I've seen all sorts of numbers for him - 193cm/190cm/187cm. The shortest of those seems the most accurate, which is still very tall for his age. At the recent middle school national championships, which are mostly 2nd and 3rd years, a 183cm competitor looked like a giant compared to his opponents.

Were there any guidelines before this, or was it a free for all where prior pro experience wasn't relevant to eligibility?

Wauke had some openweight success as well, and beat now pro Ishizaki (little bro) at the Kokutai last year. I think he made it to the round of 16?

I was going to say, his opponent looks a lot like him, good thing I had another look

That seems like an Oho thing to do. Has nearly all the physical tools, can push, pull, or grapple, but his application of his abilities is so up and down.

One of my favourite episodes. Kinda reminds me Onosho

In the high school version of the Towada tournament, held the next day, Saitama Sakae triumphed in the team competition (rare national victory for them these days), while Tottori's Nishimura took the individual title, following up on his yusho in Kanazawa earlier this year. He is probably the high school #2 at the moment. Runner-up was impressive Kinki High 1st year Shigemura, who had also lost to Nishimura 2 years ago in the match to determine middle school yokozuna. Losing semifinalists were from Tottori and Kinki as well (the semis were Tottori vs Tottori; Kinki vs Kinki). Son of Kotomitsuki, Aiki Tamiya, competed in the event and performed fairly well, but needs to make up ground to catch middle school rival Shigemura again. High school kingpin, back to back interhigh winner Daiki Nishide, seems to have sat this one out.

NSSU just beat Nihon University again, this time downing them 4-1 in the final of the National Towada tournament. Individual winner, after many 2nd and 3rd place finishes, is the tallest competitor in college sumo, Ogtonbat of Toyo University. He beat Kanazawa Gakuin's Yasuhiro Omori by yoritaoshi in the yusho match, and showed a good mix of oshi and yotsu sumo throughout. Third place was Takushoku's Goshima, who even on an off day (looked stiff legged and sore at times) makes it near the finals. He won the third place match over the other semifinal loser, Nihon University's Ryusho Kawakami. Regular high finisher Masaki Hanaoka lost in the best 8 to Goshima, after having beat him in the team event earlier.

He dropped out of Kinki in his 2nd year, so it makes sense that at minimum he would've competed in the rookie tournament, which all first years can enter. I think if a rikishi competed in college sumo, they should be regarded as having a college sumo background.

Not to go too off topic, but Asahifuji competed at Kinki university, so it's arguably 2 yokozuna. Not sure why he doesn't get considered as coming from a college background. The likes of Miyabiyama, Midorifuji, and Nishikifuji didn't graduate either yet are still considered as collegiate rikishi. Maybe because he had a small break between dropping out and starting ozumo, rather than entering immediately.

A very animated Ukrainian just won the 4th grade title

I wonder what the lucky university will be.......

Wow! What a team final Tottori gets out to a 2-0 lead over Wakayama Prefectural High, only for Wakayama to claw it back and win 3-2 in a dramatic upset - double yusho for Nishide, who got Wakayama their first win to change the momentum. Tottori had beat Saitama Sakae 4-1 in the quarterfinals - only runner-up Samejima (or 'Shark Island' as his name translates for me lol) managed to win there. He is quite the specimen, looking around 188cm/150kg.

A fitting final. Nishide and Samejima have been the strongest throughout. Sameijima needs to work on his sportsmanship a bit though.....