Michishige

I know I’m behind schedule, but I’m glad that Aoiyama is retiring and staying with the Kyokai. He’s been my favorite since I started watching sumo around 10 years ago. It will be satisfying to see him grow as an oyakata.

Terunofuji treating that knee very tenderly after his loss today…I get the feeling we might see a withdrawal from him soon.

Any info on what kabu he may use once he retires? I know he is a Japanese citizen and intends to stay on…I think he’d great so I’m excited to see him as an oyakata!

This is spot on! I’d describe this so far as starting (or near the beginning of) a period of strong competition at the top rather than a weak era. I suspect of them will be remembered as historically excellent rikishi, but it feels like a much more exciting period compared to waiting for Hakuho to officially clinch it every basho.

I love your pre-tournament content and the various postings you provide during the year. Maybe you could do a weekly 10-minute sumo show where you go over the things you’ve heard during the week? It would be eaten up by your fans, that’s for sure!

Ichinojo having a drinking problem would explain his highly variable performances over the last few years. Looks great one day, drops like a sack of potatoes the next…hangovers and dehydration from drinking could legitimately explain that. I’m wishing well for everyone involved, especially the oyakata and his wife who seem to be almost terrorized at this point.

Is there any precedent for temporarily expanding the ranks of Juryo and/or Makuuchi? I bet they could alleviate some of the fairness concerns by simply making room for promotees from Makushita who would be negatively impacted by the freezing of the banzuke. They could perhaps do this with the acknowledgment that the ranks would shrink again for the December basho.

Looking at the Makushita banzuke, it’s clear that Asanoyama isn’t the only one who will suffer from a generalized freeze in the rankings. All four of the top wrestlers have their kachi-koshi and are promotable to Juryo, yet they might all get stuck in Makushita (earning a pittance) if rankings are frozen. It’s a sad affair!

Talk about some malicious compliance! I love to see it and hope the video room will refuse to resume their assistant with calling mono-ii until some public acknowledgment of their helpfulness is made. Definitely not an apology, though…I’m not an idiot and know that will never happen.

I sincerely feel bad for Inosuke in a lot of ways. He must feel some pressure to continue on despite his age and infirmity, given the prestige factor of the job and the Kyokai’s focus on tradition. On the other hand, this basho has shown that he’s no longer up to the job. Many would say he hasn’t been up to the job for a while now, if ever, but it’s clear that he isn’t up to it at the present moment. He should retire and avoid tarnishing his reputation any further.

Oh, you’ll find a number of sumo references in this and other FF games! Final Fantasy Dissidia Opera Omnia also has Tifa yell “hatakikomi” when she does one of her special attacks.

I must correct you, dear sir. If you include the 0-2 record of his alter-ego Chiyoshoma, I’m sure you’ll see that Arawashi was only 1-2 against Hakuho.

He’s only one board member…I suppose we can hope he isn’t representative of the rest (though that’s probably silly on my part).

So if his being there was as the Mongolian Olympic ambassador, could that possibly make all of this a misunderstanding? One would hate to see him banished from sumo altogether over this.

Yes, I agree. I edited my previous post…I was led astray by modern convenience.