mikawa

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Posts posted by mikawa

  1. Posted

    The Wanpaku National Championships will be returning in two weeks' time in the Kokugikan Arena, this time with 97 teams from across Japan and also Mongolia (up from 63 teams last year). For the first time ever, there will be TWO Mongolian teams participating (instead of one). This year's tournament motto is "New Challenge", and the whole event will be livestreamed on YouTube on the Tokyo JCI's channel from 8am JST:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/jciTokyo

    One thing which is noticeable from the tournament schedule is that, not including Team Mongolia, there are as many as 7 participants who have Katakana names, from Ryan to Joshua to Julian. Amateur sumo in Japan definitely has more of an international presence nowadays, and at all levels of the sport, which is good to see.

     

    Notable Rikishi - Grade 4

    #36 - Ren Hoshiba (星場 蓮)

    Winner of this year's Hakuho Cup and also of the Technique Prize, Ren is fast and tricky in the ring. His preferred move is the ashitori leg grab.

    #53 - Rikuto Matsuoka (松岡 陸翔)

    Rikuto has been practicing sumo for many years now at Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo. His stature might be shorter than average, but he has tons of determination.

    #54 - Asuka Sasahara (笹原 吾守嘉)

    When the sumo YouTuber Amita made his recent video about Irumo Junior Sumo Club, one of the members he focussed on was Asuka. It also happened to be his birthday on that day.

    #87 - Kohei Abe (安部 航平)

    A team-mate of Rikuto's at Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo.

     

    Notable Rikishi - Grade 5

    #7 - Tobushinborudo Nyamuchiru (ニャムオチル トゥブシンボルド)

    Semi-finalist at last year's Wanpaku Tournament.翔

    #14 - Ryuto Sasaki (佐々木 琉翔)

    Semi-finalist at this year's Hakuho Cup.

    #22 - Konosuke Kishida (岸田 幸之輔)

    Winner of the Osaka qualifiers, and long-time rival of Raizo Taniyama (#81 below).

    #29 - Yushin Hayashi (林 優芯)

    The defending champion, he is huge.

    #39 - Juito Hirano (平野 純勇斗)

    Small but skilful, Juito is the Enho of this year group. He was part of the Komatsuryu Dojo team that won the team competition at this year's Hakuho Cup.

    #72 - Mahiro Yamashiro (山城 真優)

    Runner-up at last year's Wanpaku Tournament.

    #73 - Jin Kishima (木島 稔)

    Rikuto and Kohei's team-mate at Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo. Jin's mum maintains a blog (https://ameblo.jp/jurimam19760608/) that documents his sumo journey.

    #74 - Takemoto Toki (竹本 都輝)

    A Hakuho Cup semi-finalist.

    #80 - Natsuhi Onuki (竹本 都輝)

    A Hakuho Cup semi-finalist.

    #81 - Raizo Taniyama (谷山 雷蔵)

    Winner of the first event national sumo kata tournament during the pandemic, the rap-lover Raizo has made multiple appearances on Kansai TV. Results-wise, he reached the round of 16 at last year's Wanpaku Tournament, quarter-finals at last year's Primary School Championships, and came second at this year's Hakuho Cup.

    It should be noted that the Hakuho Cup winner from this year group won't appear at this tournament, and neither will anyone else from traditional powerhouse Aomori Prefecture for some reason. It's strange because there will be teams from Hokkaido and other Tohoku prefectures.

    #87 - Haruki Sasaki (佐々木 陽希)

    Runner-up at last year's Primary School Championships, he is also huge.

     

    Notable Rikishi - Grade 6

    #2 - Muti Palu (パル ム ティ)

    Muti is the son of former professional Australian rugby player Wycliff Palu. He was a quarter-finalist at last year's Wanpaku Tournament, and a semi-finalist at last year's Primary School Championships.

    #20 - Hayate Kawarai (河原井 颯)

    A semi-finalist at last year's Wanpaku Tournament, Hayate trains in both sumo and judo.

    #53 - Kyuta Kumagai (熊谷 毬太)

    The defending champion of both the Wanpaku Tournament and the Hakuho Cup, as well as a semi-finalist at last year's Primary School Championships. The Reuters star Kyuta is the favorite for this tournament. Along with Juito, he helped Komatsuryu Dojo win the team competition at this year's Hakuho Cup.

    #79 - Junki Tamiya (田宮 純喜)

    He is the younger son of ex-Kotomitsuki.

    #90 - Kota Utagawa (宇田川 康太)

    One of the Utagawa brothers at Kashiwa Junior Sumo Club, whose alumni include Kotonowaka and Kotoshoho.

    #94 - Sera Ota (大手 星来)

    Former Hakuho Cup winner and a runner-up at last year's Wanpaku Tournament AND Primary School Championships. The Shodai kohai will want to go one better this time.

    #97 - Hisatsugu Sasaki (佐々木 久継)

    The huge Hisatsugu is the defending Primary School Yokozuna. His potential second round bout against Sera should be interesting.

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  2. Posted

    2-time High School Yokozuna and amateur sumo superstar Tetsuya Ochiai has become this year's Corporate Yokozuna. He won today's corporate championships in Ehime, beating ex-corporate yokozuna Soichiro Kurokawa in the final. He represented his dad's company Noda-gumi, and now has a Makushita 15 tsukedashi if he chooses to use it. He is only the second high school graduate in history to win this tournament on his first attempt (after Ichinojo).

     

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  7. Posted

    English and Mandarin at a native level, Japanese at around N4 though not actually taken any JLPT tests (yet). Saw a video on YouTube a while back where there's a street interviewer who would give out cash prizes to passers-by who could count to 10 in three different languages, in which case I could have "yat, yi, san" (Cantonese), "eins, zwei, drei" and "un, deux, trois"d my way to $5 lol

    • Like 2

  8. Posted · Edited by mikawa

    A ritual sumo event was held in Suwa Shrine in Tachikawa, Tokyo yesterday as part of the Summer Matsuri celebrations. A Shinto priest was there to start off the event, followed by warm-up activities such as shiko and suriashi. The ritual sumo itself comprised of "Beat 3 opponents in a row" (with prizes being given to those who achieved this), "Beat 5 opponents in a row", "Blindfolded Sumo", "Sanyaku Soroibumi", "Sanyaku Bouts" and "God Sending Ceremony" (神送りの儀式).

    Here's a video I made from the event, any improvement suggestions for future videos would be greatly appreciated.

     

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  10. Posted

    Interesting to see Kumamoto's Yuta Kuraoka finally getting one over his long time rival Hayato Kodama. Seeing how well both Shigemura and Toyoda did this year, it really hypes up their rivalry for next year. Imagine these two buddies facing off in another national final, just like in the Hakuho Cup 2 years ago. That would be lit.

    Also, can we appreciated what a great job Coach Nagai has done at Kashiwa? He set up a dormitory on the second floor of his own home, which currently hosts 10 junior high school rikishi from around the country. Those same rikishi won both of the team championships this year.

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