maorencze

After catching up to all 3 days in one go (highlights, thanks Kintamayama for doing this for us!), I got one question: WHAT. THE. HELL. IS. HAPPENING. THERE?!

Then my apology is doubled, sorry for misunderstanding. And, well, to be honest, not sure about his circumstances but Homarenishiki being a surefire sekitori seemed like a stretch to me too. Then again, my opinion about his qualities was based on those videos as well, so it probably holds merit just "as is", i.e. as subjective opinion of individual sumo fan.

It somehow comes off as you being totally OK with bullying people just because they don't go up quickly enough. Might just be my imagination, I hope so, if I'm wrong then I'm truly sorry for misinterpreting your intent. In general, every person is different and heyas pretty much as well. Takanoyama and Amuuru took quite long way up and if I take away from Takanoyama's interviews, he never complained and accepted harsh treatment he was sometimes subjected to as given, but then the treatment in his heya could have been quite different (meaning easier) to Nishikido. And then there is Masutoo, Orora and possibly others I'm forgetting, and it doesn't seem like they've had such issues. Surely we don't see into their heads and hearts, and we'll never know what lead to The incident, but with this heya having such rare aftermath of Brodi leaving I'm willing to bet on Nishikido-beya being a bad environment, weird stories about oyakata and a load of dismissals due to bad behaviour included.

Way I look at it, noone forced him to punch people, especially after what HE went through, his situation being a start of big changes and all. So not sure what was beyond his control, and given the multiple reports about his character, I can't bring myself to pity him.

Was it last year? That day 15 bout Hakuho-Harumafuji where Hakuho won by dismantling a valiantly struggling Harumafuji's grip in technically flawless and beautiful manner? That would be my candidate

Unless Takanohana knew that by the time the shikona is adopted, Takanoiwa shall show the world how it's done, mwa ha ha! Still better than Reddit, but I definitely agree, tin foil sure seems to be getting short in supply with some recent posts...

Let's wait a few more before verdict on Tochinoshin. Maybe his body won't be up to it, though it got him that far (but only that far is not enough, for sure). I for one still believe, but he needs to get his act together. That said, Tochi's power-bouts are a thing of beauty, and when Tochi is at his best/strongest, quality of content is higher and his sumo far more entertaining than rather no-taste-no-smell Goeido style (though even he is very effective when at his best, 15-0 speaks volumes).

Last such transgression led to suspension, and it was a first-time offender. I'd say the NSK is pretty clear about their treatment of such stuff

Uhm...no. Healthy Goeido is about as good quality-wise to injured Tochinoshin.

One out of twenty is still quite a lot. And question is - did they really begin to talk, or is it more suppressed than it used to be?

East West balance, we got Y2E, therefore we got 02W to balance out

Sorry for my English, recently I have been making too many mistakes

With all due respect for your experience and knowledge, I must respectfully disagree with nearly everything mentioned, though I understand that many people will be of the same opinion as you are. Other generally accepted synonym for "martial" is "fighting", sumo is about fighting. According to a lot of self-defense experts, openhanded strike may be just as deadly as a closed fist and rikishi are well versed in throwing a resisting enemy, applying joint locks (kimedashi), pushing (have you ever seen fighting with shields?). So yeah, sumo is quite useful for fighting, definitely better than no knowledge at all. As for defeating an enemy, if interpretation is made wider ("opponent"), which it should for most martial arts are not primarily designed for serious hostile situations (Judo, Aikido, Karate, others), you could very well make a point that sumo has techniques just as much designed to best your opponent as others. At no time at all were many of current or historical martial arts something you'd use in battle, that's not just sumo-specific. Also, for example Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto Ryu or Yagyu Shingan Ryu also came from religion, as well as many Chinese martial arts. And for "badly doing ex-rikishi in MMA", I'd recommend you watch some Baruto bouts, only one defeating Baruto was "Cro Cop", old but still a top-notch world-class MMA fighter.

Well, Takakeisho doesn't seem all that enthusiastic bowing either, I'd say Aoiyama-Chiyoshoma level This was such an awesome power struggle, I'm still amazed by it. And clearly it took all of Takayasu's power to be able to hold on long enough to perform the technique. Applause to both, beautiful bout.

Tochiozan had a reasonably good idea (hunting for the belt), except Takakeisho was visibly leaving an opening on purpose (defend fiercely twice and then open up, I really think it was on purpose) while retreating just enough for Tochiozan to have to compromise his balance more. I hate the kid, can't stand his face and all (like, KO'ing a fellow sekitori during training, seriously? Not to mention that nasty thing he did to Ura back in Juryo...coupled with his usual bearing, not bothering to bow properly or even look if your opponent is OK after giving him a "healthy" dame-oshi, which he does often...Yeah, real "class") but still stand by my previously stated opinion that out of this batch of Next Gen, Takakeisho will be the first Yokozuna and it's not that far away in future.