RabidJohn

General concensus of opinion was that he would never cut it in sanyaku, then that he would never make ozeki for exactly the same reasons. He keeps proving everybody wrong, a point he alluded to in one of his post-yusho interviews. He doesn't have to be a 'good' yokozuna. Simply getting the rope will have proved everybody wrong - again.

Chris Gould is referring to Chiganoura switching to 'Hitachiyama'. Is that an alternative reading of Tokuwayama, or has he just got it wrong?

Btw, when I suggest getting the rope would shorten Takakeisho's career, I'm not suggesting anything as short as Kisenosato's yokozuna career. Kisenosato's retirement was mainly due to the catastrophic mismanagement of his detached pectoral injury (which with hindsight may have come about because he'd never been injured before). I've no doubt Takakeisho will do his utmost to win in January, even if it means an eventual pre-30 retirement (as opposed to a post-30 slide down the banzuke).

Akua and Tobizaru may be new to makuuchi, but they are late bloomers. Their part in the future of sumo will be limited by age. But yeah, I'm not worried for the future. Kotoshoho and Hoshoryu both have bags of unrefined talent already; they're only going to get better. I believe all 3 current ozeki have it in them to get the rope if the cards fall in their favour, but only Asanoyama is likely to have any longevity. Takakeisho is injury prone, so he will shorten his career if he gets it in January, and Shodai is already one of the oldest ozeki promotions. Never say never and all that, but at the moment I don't envisage any of the younger rikishi overtaking these 3 ozeki and beating them to the rope.

It's just occurred to me that the pandemic situation has inadvertently created a new game: Identify the Spectator. --- I'm fairly sure my old knees would not let me get into seiza now. However, I know that even when I could, I definitely wouldn't have been able to get up again after several hours in that position. Most spectators don't sit like that, but our mysterious/elegant lady does. She is either employed to set a pristine example of Japanese femininity (in a spot where she's in view most of the time to TV viewers and close-ups on the prestigious east side also include her) or she's a koenkai member with a bit of an OCD thing about setting a pristine example of Japanese femininity. --- I don't really care who she is. I don't want to know where she lives. But if saying I think she's nice to look at makes me a creep, then I'm a creep. Snowflakes crying about it ain't gonna change my mind.

NattoSumo highlighted her on a couple of his videos and referred to her as the 'elegant lady' - which isn't at all creepy or stalker-ish in my book. I've always quite enjoyed a bit of crowd watching, as have many here. We haven't seen 'bad wig guy' this year with any of his 'daughters/nieces'; elegant-couple-of-rows-back-just-right-of-centre-elegant-Osaka-lady was unable to make an appearance; and red-streak-hair-cougar-next-to-west-side-hanamichi hasn't been present in Tokyo, so it was nice to have someone to speculate about again.

I'm sure I've seen photos on this forum of rikishi washing their hair. There's one of moto-Yoshikaze with his hair down after washing - looks like a Klingon without the aid of prosthetics.

It's been 4 days on the trot now! Starting to get a bit 'Who are you, and what have you done with the real Hokutofuji?' I like it. It's forcing me to reassess Hakkaku's protegé. --- I think the forum going down inevitably had an effect on this basho's 'turnout'. I just got out of the habit of coming here after watching the sumo each day. I'm enjoying the sumo. Sure, there've been some meh bouts, but that's normal. There have been some crackers too. I'm not missing a 'narrative'. --- Watching Enho hasn't been enjoyable this time. He just looks like he's going to get badly hurt... --- Seeing all the hate for Mitakeumi is amusing AF. I gave up on him ages ago, but I don't suddenly dislike him. I tend to root for his aite instead.

I hope he's been told to cut it out. If Kotoyuki's hoot was out of order, Ryuden's twerking is really taking the piss. I've surprised myself by how much I've gone off him as a result.

I was too, but lately I've been wondering if it was political. Kotoshogiku staying on the banzuke kept Takatoriki's son out of juryo - so was he asked to delay his intai by his soon-to-be peers in the NSK? Takatoriki isn't doing his kids any favours with that YT channel of his, but this really smacks to me of the son being... let's say 'disadvantaged' rather than 'punished' for the sins of the father. I was a fan of Kotoshogiku and I wish him well in his new career, but for me there's a shadow over his departure from the active ranks.

Seeing as how this thread has just been flagged up elsewhere, I don't feel like I'm necroposting:

What, you run out of hats?

This is actually Terunofuji's debut at komusubi. He missed it on the way up to ozeki and on his way down to jonidan.

@Houmanumi I'm certain there are members who rarely if ever scroll down to the Welcome section. How about starting a new thread in the Featured Rikishi section?

If the reports are correct that Kakuryu started his citizenship application around 5 years ago, he can't be accused of leaving it until the very last minute. I believe it was quite reasonable for him to expect the process to be over and done with a lot sooner than now. Someone's dragging their heels, but it doesn't appear to be Kakuryu.