Kaninoyama

Three straight losses when suddenly matched up over his head against our newest Ozeki and two possible future ones killed his momentum, rightfully so. Hokuseiho is far from a matured, finished product. But the experienced gained by going up against the strongest Joi wrestlers this basho will only help him moving forward.

The GOAT with an oversized personality? Calls to mind Babe Ruth more so than Ted Williams.

To be fair, the gap between a healthy Terunofuji and everyone else is also like night and day. Asanoyama has done fine in his return to Makuuchi. 10-3 and right in the yusho mix before losing to Terunofuji today. As Mainoumi commented today on the broadcast, he's been away from Makuuchi for two years, most of it during covid, during which he had no capable training partners and competition far below his level for most of that span. Has his sumo evolved? Not really. But what he has was enough to be a solid Ozeki with a shot at making Yokozuna prior to his suspension.

Congrats to new Ozeki Kiribayama.

Ura zubuneri win against Tobizaru in what might be the match of the basho so far. Even Konosuke couldn't contain his excitement, screaming out about 1000 nokottas in the space of a minute.

That would be unfair to the competition.

Spectacular utchari by Wakamotoharu.

Takayasu returns on Day 11 and looks like he didn't need to miss the previous 10 days.

Impressive win by Hokuseiho against Meisei. Literally on his tiptoes on the edge of the dohyo and Meisei still couldn't force him out.

If anyone can weather yet another comeback from devastating injury, it's Chiyonokuni. But surely this setback must be too much even for him at this point in his career.

Kinbozan is basically Osunaarashi right now. Made it to this point based on his strength and athleticism and minimal sumo experience. How far he goes beyond will depend on gaining actual sumo skills.

Tomorrow's heads up torikumi between basho leaders (along with Terunofuji) Meisei & Hokuseiho should be a good one.

Tochinoshin will be guest commentator on today's NHK broadcast.

Is it just me or has Ura lost a bit of his "Ura-ness" these past few basho?

Today's convincing win against Asanoyama should silence some of the Hokuseiho doubters.