Kaninoyama

"And they conk heads" Thank god I have access to the Japanese-language broadcast.

Most surprising nuggets from the show: 1) Fujinokawa gained 70 kilos between junior high and high school 2) Kayo is listed as being from Okinawa but was born and raised in Chiba (but parents were both from Okinawa so he took some liberties)

According to the retirement announcement by Isegahama-beya, he'll remain at Isegahama-beya as a coach to develop the next generation or rikishi. Unclear if that's just for the short term or if he'll eventually branch out on his own.

Who's griping?

Fusensho + Henka for the two Yokozuna. I'm sure more than a few Kokugikan fans went home a little disappointed yesterday. Hopefully today's showdown makes up for it.

The effort is certainly there, but he's very one-dimensional in an Abi sort of way, but without Abi's evasiveness. If he's lacking even a little of his explosiveness, he's in for a rough time in upper Makuuchi.

Hakuoho was able to get the win against last basho's yusho winner--bandaged arm and all.

Man, she was always a bright, genki presence at the basho and way too young for something like this. R.I.P.

It's become much harder to win tickets through the lottery system. Used to be able to get tickets about once a year (usually trying through multiple phones). But haven't gotten a hit in years.

Didn't someone post a graph somewhere recently showing that Onosato's performance was right about par for newly minted Yokozuna? About Hoshoryu, I will refrain from commenting.

Not going to sit here and say I did expect him to win one at some point, but he had battled his way to a previous ketteisen, so at least the potential was there. Don't think anyone will ever top Tokushoryu for coming out of nowhere to yusho.

He had quite a bit of potential coming up but got derailed by injuries and became a forgotten also ran. Perhaps his injuries are behind him (for now) and he's back to realizing his initial promise. Which has started me wondering: in an alternate world where there are zero injuries, which rikishi who became also rans would have had entirely different career trajectories?

If Takayasu had brought yesterday's sumo to one of his previous deciding matches he'd be a Grand Champion by now. Determined and aggressive. Hope he can draw on that if he ever gets another opportunity.

He's actually an amateur bodybuilder.

Day 14- matchups are out. Aonishiki - Kusano. Kotoshoho - Kirishima. Atamifuji - Takayasu.