dada78641

I wonder if Hokuseiho's 10-5 is enough to get him from J6 to the bottom of makuuchi. I'm feeling probably not, and he'll end up J1 or J2?

Yeah, absolutely it was a real physical injury, not just Takayasu being sad. This guy's been a rikishi for longer than today, he's not gonna lie down on the dohyo throwing a fit just because he lost a bout, even if it was an important one. Let's not kid ourselves. These guys are always on a knife's edge with the tachiai, especially when they go in head first. It's not at all surprising that something like this could happen, even if most of the time it goes well. It's like how a kachiage usually doesn't result in a KO, but... sometimes it does. It's actually more of a miracle that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often.

Although I can understand that the henka was a very anticlimactic move, I guess I can understand the reasoning for it from his perspective. If it works, it keeps him completely fresh for the next bout, while instilling the fear of another henka in the very henka-able Takakeisho. It very visibly made a difference in the bout with Takakeisho being unable to put sufficient power into the tachiai. All things considered, I've got really mixed feelings about the outcome of the basho. It's sad that Takayasu lost yet another golden opportunity for a yusho through a henka and a really unfortunate head contact of all things. And while it's nice for Abi that he managed to make such an immense comeback after his punishment for flouting the COVID-19 guidelines and coming a millimeter away from having to retire, I somehow find that I still can't quite be happy for him. (Lame as this might sound, I actually never quite forgave him for that SNS scandal, which permanently caused all wrestlers to be disallowed from posting on social media... that was an absolutely astounding level of stupidity on his part.) But well, what's done is done, and either way it's clear that Abi is going to be an absolute top class wrestler and title contender for a very long time. I'd be surprised if this was his last yusho.

Shame that he's leaving sumo so suddenly during the basho. He was one of the absolute rank-and-file makuuchi mainstays, only very briefly dipping his toe into juryo a few times over the years and I'll miss his presence. On a side note, it's somehow nice that he's opening something other than a chanko-nabe restaurant. I actually kinda feel like next time I'm in Japan I should do a Tokyo former rikishi restaurant tour. I don't know if anyone has a big list of former sumo wrestler restaurants anywhere, but I'm sure you can make a nice long route by now.

It's so, so difficult to quit drinking when you're addicted. It's absolutely impossible to escape, and if you've ever been addicted to alcohol can never just drink socially. Even just walking into a conbini can be enough for a full fledged relapse. I remember my dad telling me that in his younger years as a bartender he's seen way more people get destroyed through drinking than through other drugs, even during that time in the 70s in the Netherlands when people had a very liberal attitude towards taking even hard drugs. Seems like Ichinojo has it pretty bad and regardless of what the consequences will be for him as a wrestler, it's something that will probably hurt him for life.

Since I happen to be in Japan right now, this is how I watched the sumo today: With a nice cup of hot kocha in the local coffee shop. I'm glad Ichinojo is not kyujo given the recent problems. There were some pretty good explosive matches today.

I've not been active on the forum for a while, but I've definitely enjoyed this tournament. I'm glad 37 year old Tamawashi was able to clinch it. Even if he had to bump my favorite, Hokutofuji. These kids love their commentator grandpa: Some shots I thought were nice:

Pretty exciting end to the tournament. Bit of a shame we did not get the decider between Ichinojo and Terunofuji. Nice interview with Joe as well, I think the interview was probably more of a bother to him than the bout today. The audience enjoyed it too.

"Please, god, just give me this one..."

Couple more screenshots I took a while back and forgot about. I know this guy. I think he was in sumo once. What's his name, 魔餓鬼? Sumo cinderella working hard as always, while dreaming of attending the sumo ball. Tsurugisho Momotaro T-posing to show off his new duds. Three generations of sumo fans! Never quite got a good look at what Terunofuji's kesho mawashi actually says. Apparently it says "GOOD SPEED".

You spin me right round baby right round like a record baby

People being told to eat in silence. Some random shot of a shop in the arena. I don't know why they even pointed a camera over here but I'm glad they did because I like these little b-roll shots. I've actually never been to Nagoya and I should fix that next time I'm in Japan. "Happy Bithday ♥ Wedding!"

I want one of those buttons.

Shame. I always like Shohozan's sumo. He was a real brawler. I've been looking over his record to see what his best result was. It looks to be his Kyushu 2015 run at M10w where he went 12-3 and got a tied jun-yusho with Hakuho. There's also his Kyushu 2012 run where he went an impressive 10-5 at the much higher rank of M2e, beating three ozeki (Kotooshu, Baruto and Kisenosato) along the way. Here's his match against Kisenosato from that basho:

This one's quite old (from 6 years ago) but a sumo account I follow on Twitter posted what I can only assume is called the Hak Mac. (OK, it's actually called the Grand Big Mac but it should've been called the Hak Mac.)