Arn

Aaargh...the influence of Hiro Morita?!! I dont think I have ever heard that expresion somewhere else, but he uses it at least once in every broadcast, if not more. Soon you will start talking about running out of real estate too...

Ok, not their entire lifes apparently. But still, from 15. A large part of his young life. My point is the same.

He brought it on himself and he doesn't seem like a pleasant person. And the JSA had to make a point of puniching that behaviour to make it stop. But still, I feel a little bad for him in the end... His entire life has been dedicated to sumo. It's all he has been doing growing up, to the point of even transforming his body into what is best for wrestling. He was good at it, and was, baring injury, almost guaranted a succesfull career with lots of money and status. Now its all gone, before it really started, and he probably has no idea what he is going to do instead. The money he got is I believe something like the equivalent of half a years normal salery (which he probably blew on his lawyers). And meanwhile his twin brother will still have all that which he has just been denied. The greater his brothers succes the worse he will probably feel his own failure.

Is it really that hard to imagine a reason? He probably just wanted to avoid bringing too much attention to himself from journalists.

Is there any specific reason for this change, because Satonofuji is not retiring? Or is it normal to change the twirler now and then? Satanofuji had that function for quite a while, right?

Dapeng seems to be going for the rare 0-15 record in this thread!

I was goin to ask the same question as Kawabata, seems like a quite hard career end.

I would imagine he is at the center of a pretty bad drinking culture, but still hard to understand how a man of his age and his standing allows himself to get blackout-drunk like that.

Haha, that is a bit funny, but I am happy for him :) Kyokutaisei is now ranked juryo 1, and hopefully ony one kachi-koshi from makuuchi.

And Hakuho wins again...unfortunately it feels like the three last bashos was almost won on walkover since most top-guys dropped out. I feel that fact also has a lot to do with the success of many of the newer guys. These bashos should have been golden opportunities for somebody like Goeido, before he gets overtaken by a younger generation.

Tamawashi seems to relatively quietly have established himself at Sekiwake. 9-3 now and his third KK in a row at Sekiwake. The next Ozeki (after Takaysu)?

Context.

Also a nice win for Kakuryu. An equal 10-5 compared to Harumafuji instead of two behind, while also beating both of the other Yokozunas. Add Hakuhos absence and he is not so obviously yokozuna #4, the spot to avoid. Edit: ups, mixed up the records (changed this now).

Wow, what a comeback from Kisenosato! And what a strange ending to this basho! This is exactly the stuff the japanese love, what ever happens in the rest of his career he will always have this triumph to fall back on. That was karma for Terunofuji. In a way maybe its good for him, I think a lot of people will have any easier time forgetting that terrible henka against Kotoshogiku now. Speaking of Kotoshogiku, he ended up with nine wins instead of ten, tough. That twelvt win for Takayasu migth be very important next basho.

I think that might be the best way to deal with it (making statements and threatening with consqences). If it really did effect a potential promotion I am sure others would be carefull in a similar situation.

I know the henka is allowed by the rules, but come on! There has to be a place and time at least. Not only did Terunofuji crush Kotoshogikus hope of returning to Ozeki, at the same time he probably decided (if it wasnt already) the yusho since he now will face his only threat, the badly injured Kisenosato on the last day. I hope it will come back and bite Terunofuji some day... I do think it would be interesting to know the exact nature of Kisenosato's injury, but maybe they will not let it come out. Kyokutaisei got a KK at his highest rank ever, Juryo 6, after defeating three strong opponents in Onosho, Toyohibeki and Oyanagi in the three last days.

You are getting so far ahead that its a bit silly. We are at day 11 and you declare the basho boring because of Kisenosatos zensho? Its building up to an epic deciding fight with Terunofuji! And we have Kisenosatos first match-up against another yokozuna. Or maybe Kise will lose four straight... I think its a (another) great basho!

Ichinojo looked like he was very determined not to be walked-out backwards, like he has the last couple of days. Kotoyuki seems completely under the ice compared to how he looked some tournaments ago. And I have not heard anything about any injuries. I liked Sokokurais little matador-move, suddenly going the other way. What knocked out Hokutofji? Slaps or collision? And finally, I must ask because I have wondered for several tournaments, what is up with Yoshikazes eyes??? Its like they never went back to normal after he had those double black eyes a while ago. He looks like he has an permanent allergic rection.

I suppose the measurements on Sumodb are taken and released by the sumo association? I know they are not always very carfully taken, but Shunba is particularly strange/funny. When he entered he was 167 cm, a year later he was down to 163 cm, then at his highest he was 169, and then back down to 165 cm.

Apparently not, since the japanese reaction is different from yours. And no I do not, but sure, I definitely think it came about as part of the traditional japanese culture which is strong in sumo.

Well, that seems more like a critique of the japanese culture than of how the situation in itself was handled. If that is how their culture is, then I dont see any problem with it. It annoys you because your are used to another reaction, but why would the japanese take that into consideration? I dont really think that sort of critique from a western perspective (i presume) is very interesting. Apparently that is not how they do things, and the japanese "differentness" is, besides the wrestling, what I think is attractive with sumo.

It kind of does. It is not part of the tradition, it is not how sumo is done. It has never been like that before, so why would it be needed now. Not that I personally would have anything against it (quite the contrary), but for these kind of injuries I dont think it matters much. It would mostly be needed for head-injuries or bad bone breaks. And they at least will use a wheel-chair if the wrestler can not walk.

I love Kisenosatos understated swagger after winning, "yes, I am that good". I also really like the calm, meassured sumo of Takarafuji. He just takes what is thrown at him, and does not get bothered. Terunofuji looks like he is back for real, completely different body language from him, lets see if it lasts the whole tournament. I am actually really surprised that the toughing it out-approach seems to work out (temporarily at least...) for both him and Endo. There must be a big risk that Harumafuji will pull out also, leaving the scene for Kisenosato. It is not surprising that Goeido is having problems if he has been injured instead of training.

Hard to believe it being that late did not influence the final descision. I dont think they would have liked to take back the money already given. I dont understand why they have to complicate things with the "dead body"-rule at all, I think the normal rule that whoever touches down first loses is great since there is so little room for interpretation (especially with camera enchanced-monoiis).

I was going to say that Takarafuji has done that too, but he apparently had the bad luck to be ranked as a Komusubi the first time he beat Hakuho.