Tiger Tanaka

Hoping Hokutofuji is okay, I've never seen him look as weak as he did with Daimami. Mitakeumi looked good, but got a little overzealous after having Hak on the brink. Hak doesn't look in top form, but I don't see him having much trouble with Shohozan or Kaisei, so it could be a 4-0 start and see him "struggle" to a 13-2 or 12-3 record. Hoping all can stay healthy so we can see some week 2 sanyaku battles that we've missed the past couple of basho. How much longer can Terunofuji go out there in his condition? He is getting pushed around with ease by rikishi 30 kg lighter than him. He used to be one of the strongest forces in the sport, I remember him picking up Tochinoshin before. Very sad to see both him and Kise struggling so much just over one year from their yusho playoff. Hoshoryu and Naya both with victories in their Jonidan debuts.

Is it possible to order sumo goods from the US? There is some really great stuff here that I'd love to get my hands on .

52 - an improvement over some recent woes, which I'll gladly take. Should avoid the really bad MK I've suffered the past two basho. There were some that I was way off on Chiyotairyu and Takekeisho, and many others I was just one off, but that's GTB! Predicting Onosho would stay messed up some of my lower banzuke results.

Love Ikioi and Tochinoshin's scurry to the corner and Kotoyuki's lobster claw propellers. Amakaze makes some very strange facial expressions, opening his mouth and almost snarling baring his teeth. Wakaichiro nearly knocks himself out with how hard he slaps his face before the tachiai.

So much fighting spirit from Ryuden in the last 3 days, he was determined not to go MK and fought with quite a bit of tenacity. Great rebound after a 1-5 and later 3-7 start. I think Mitakeumi gets double digits in Natsu. He looked banged up this basho, but still had a ton of fight and his back to back battles with the two ozeki were very impressive. Glad to see Kakuryu get his 4th yusho. Hope he can continue on for another year or so.

Some really good bouts today, unfortunately the headliner was a dud. Mitakeumi v Hokutofuji was probably the best of the bunch. Agree with @Amamaniac on Hokutofuji's sportsmanship, it's clear these two college rivals have a lot of mutual respect for each other. Two promising rikishi who are struggling (possibly a bit banged up), but giving it their all. Ryuden is one of those reserved rikishi who goes overlooked, similar to a Kagayaki, but he came out fiery today, determined not to go MK today. Endo and Shodai are looking at the best I've seen them during my first year of following sumo. That was really impressive sumo by Endo against a Chiyomaru who is also fighting well. Championship weekend. Not out of the realm of possibility that we see Takayasu beat Mitakeumi and Goeido beat Kakuryu, setting up for a meaningful last bout on senshuraku

Enho goes out of his way to politely ask the gyoji where he should stand upon his entrance, ensuring that he does everything right in his sekitori debut. Takayoshitoshi takes no accountability on being late to ringside by assaulting his tsukebito. We all understand that the sumo culture greatly values rank, honor, and respect. Behavior like this is simply disrespectful and dishonorable regardless of rank it's aimed toward. There are so many elements of sumo that exemplify this sport's beauty and tradition which we all love it for. Abuse like this is not one of those aspects and its time for archaic behaviors like that to go intai.

So keen to see Ichinojo vs Kaisei on day 10, both near the top of their game right now.

The Aoiyama judgement was poor, but the Kakuryu-Takekeisho judgement was spot on. The two different camera angles almost cause an optical illusion where you question whether or not it was the force of hitting the tawara or Kak's toe stepping out. Regardless, it was shini-tai, correctly implemented by the judges this time. I wouldn't have minded Kakuryu losing either, as I'd like to see Mitakeumi get back into yusho contention or Kaisei pull off an upset yusho.

How fun is Abi to watch? Great spirited battle between him and Kaisei and great mutual respect shown after the bout. Hope Abi is a mainstay in the top division for many years to come. Mitakeumi starting off strong again, but he did the same in Hatsu. Needs to keep it going in the early days and keep that momentum when he starts facing the sanyaku in week 2. Really rooting hard for him every day and hope this is the start of the Ozeki run. Not a fan of Tamawashi, but must admit he looks really good. Kakuryu not looking as strong as he did at the start of Hatsu, but certainly genki enough to get a Yokozuna KK. Ichinojo is looking very strong again, but I'm waiting for someone to tactically start forcing him to perform more lateral movement. Going head on is just not smart, need to force him to a side to potentially get him off balance and use his enormous momentum against him.

Got it in just in time. Hoping to rebound off my awful Hatsu performance!

All in rooting for Tochinoshin now! Was rooting for him, Kakuryu, and my fav Mitakeumi this basho. Now that it's so close, it would be amazing to see Tochinoshin get his first yusho. Kakuryu has prolonged his career with his results so far, I'd like to see him get 1 or 2 more wins to make it a very strong KK. Mitakeumi... just hoping for a KK at this point, which is no guarantee. Crazy to think after the 7-0 start.

7-4 at this stage is still a good record, but disappointing for fans of Mitakeumi given the 7-0 start and hopes of it being a potential ozeki run. He could still go 3-1 to finish with a double digit kk. In the long run, this might not be a bad thing. He just turned 25 and if he's not ready, he's not ready. Let him develop for a few more tournaments, continue to develop his lateral movement and mawashi techniques and make the push when he's ready instead of a premature promotion that leads to the kadoban carousel.

Wonder if Mitakeumi came out too over eager after the previous day's loss to Tochinoshin. He seemed to over-pursue and his feet got caught behind him, which rarely happens to the stable sekiwake. Hope he can finish the basho at least 3-2 to get those double digits, though with Hakuho out I would have really liked to see 11-12 wins.

Going to be tough for Aminishki to go 5-2 or 4-3 in the second week of the basho, but if he does he could preserve his Makuuchi status. Hoping he can continue his constant fighting spirit, go Aminishki!

Mitakeumi tried to use brute strength to force Ichinojo back, which he's done once in the past, but now Ichinojo is back to 215kg so that wasn't happening. After the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd attempt failed it left Mitakeumi pretty tired. His only chance was pulling a throw, which he attempted but Ichinojo was prepared and moved forward immediately and appropriately and that was that. I think the misstep on MItakeumi's part was not using more lateral movement to try getting Ichinojo off balance. That being said, the winner of Mitakeumi vs Tochinoshin tomorrow will still very much be in the yusho race. Mitakeumi has beaten Kakuryu twice out of five attempts and both Takayasu and Goeido have a shot at preventing a zensho. That being said, Kakuryu has not looked this genki in quite a while and it's great to see.

Don't get too dejected @since_94. You are going to see the most beautiful of all sports and regardless of what rikishi are out there, you will be sucked into all the amazing culture and tradition as soon as you step into the Kokugikan. As every other sport in the world has evolved in someway, many dramatically over the years; sumo has stayed virtually unchanged. When I was lucky enough to step into the Kokugikan, it was like entering a wonderful time machine. Definitely understand that it's disappointing that you won't see some of your favorites. But I'm sure there were some disappointing fans that attended Hatsu 2002 when both Yokozuna were kyujo. But did they realize then how lucky they were to witness a rising sekiwake at the time in Asashoryu and two much smaller rikishi in Jonidan & Sandanme at that time named Hakuho and Ama (Harumafuji). Keep the banzuke for the days you are going. You are very likely to be seeing future Yokozuna and Ozeki without knowing it!

Wow, no love for Tochinoshin! He was an exhausted sweaty mess after his prolonged bout with Goeido.

Tochinoshin vs. Goeido match was the best of the basho so far (stating the obvious!) If Tochinoshin can get past Takekeisho and Kakuryu past Kotoshogiku, it would set up a delicious day 7 match between an undefeated Kakuryu and Tochinoshin

That Aminishki picture is heartbreaking :(

Hope Kakuryu can stay healthy all 15 days and have a Renaissance in his sumo career. Great to see him competing in top form. Takekaze seems to start every basho slow these days, but manages to rebound in week 2. This time he seems to be in some serious danger starting off 0-4 and at great risk of dropping out of Makuuchi for the first time in 13 years. Hope he can gambarize. Really looking forward to Tochinoshin vs Goeido tomorrow. Hoping we are watching the beginning of an ozeki run unfold for Mitakeumi!

And now he's moved to 3-0 with a day 5 win! A 5-2 record I would think get him near the top of Jonidan, while 6-1 would get him back to Sandanme. Ganbatte!

Kakuryu looked keen to go in Kyushu before news of kyujo due to another hampered injury. My gut told me it was a calculated decision since the next basho was fly or intai, that he must be sure to be 100%. Today was incredibly positive and potentially his best match since Kyushu of 2016. Came out aggressive and relentless on Hokutofuji and right when Hok picked the time to fight back with everything Kak pulled the throw down. Brilliant. A lot of positive to take from the Kise fight. He looked stronger. Not quite pre-injury strength, but he absorbed Takekeisho's oshi attacks which are some of the fiercest in sumo. He just got too eager when he saw Takekeisho up against the bales and went in hard at the wrong moment, which allowed Takekeisho to make a very impressive arm bar throw. I do worry that the early loss might get into Kise's head. It would be such a shame that when he finally starts to overcome his past injury, his head gets in the way of returning to Yokozuna sumo. Let's go Mitakeumi! Both Ozeki also looked in good form on Day 1. Could be a very competitive basho if Hakuho's toe is hampering him again. Also I remember we discussed Kotoshogiku not doing his big stretch on senshuraku in November. Didn't do it again on Day 1. I miss it.

Sanyaku picks for day 1 Tamawashi over Chiyotairyu: I'm not a fan of Tom Mawashi aka Tom Belt, but he's been demonstrating some quality sumo and he's going to come out on fire wanting to show that Kyushu is the start of an Ozeki run Mitakeumi over Kotoshogiku: Mitakeumi has won 6 of his last 7 matchups against Geek, will need to see if some of his nagging injuries from Kyushu have subsided Yoshikaze over Takayasu: Yoshikaze looked banged up by the end of Kyushu, but he's 6-2 in his last 8 matchups against Takayasu who isn't 100% physically or mentally IMO Goeido over Ichinojo: I have a feeling Kyushu will be an aberration for Ichi and that he's due for a big MK now that he's firmly in the JOI. Goeido wins easily. Kakuryu over Hokutofuji: Kak draws the toughest day 1 matchup, but I believe he will handle Hokutofuji who might come out too aggressive with too much forward lean, which sets up well for Kakuryu. Takekeisho over Kisenosato: Hope I'm wrong here, I like both rikishi but Kise is obviously in a more precarious position. From the great preparation threads by @Kintamayama it just doesn't seem like Kise has regained his upper body strength yet. There are few weak areas in the JOI this basho and Kise will struggle to get 10 wins. Hakuho over Onosho: I wouldn't have been surprised if Hak skipped this basho given that he just won and wanted to make a point with all the controversy going on. But now that he's in, he might be a little rusty, but I still see a 14-1 or 13-2 yusho for Hak. Highlight matches of the day: Kakuryu vs Hokutofuji and Tamawashi vs Chiyotairyu. Also looking forward to Terunofuji vs Chiyomaru. SUMO IS BACK! Let's enjoy these next 15 days friends. Cheers!

Hakuho 4 Kakuryu 1 Mitakeumi 1