Yatagarasu

I had heard a story that he did have a childhood sweetheart but his parents broke them up in order to concentrate on his sumo career and he hadn't met anyone since... :(

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He's back in the gym and looking pretty ripped, frankly. I think he's lost weight. I'd tentatively estimate a Kyushuu or Hatsu comeback attempt.

Sometimes for the larger scale creations, only the bottom tier will be actual cake (to be visibly cut by the couple). The upper tiers will be polystyrene blocks that have been frosted for a pretty display and in the kitchen there will be a whole bunch of 'sheet cakes' frosted the same colour to actually be cut and served to the guests (after the display cake has been wheeled out to be 'cut').

Discipline is one thing, but in football at least, bad ref calls which impact the score, such as an offside decision, penalty award, or sending off cannot be rectified after the match. The overall result won't be altered and the qualifying team won't change. I mean, Maradonna's hand of God (and Thierry Henri's subsequent one) is a prime example... Sumo is not unique in this. If anything, sumo was using video technology to assist refereeing way before football was.

Someone at Tachiai said apparently you can only have torinaoshi if there's a dotai (where both rikishi touch simultaneously and it's hard to call) as opposed to it just being sketchy with a single rikishi. I'm not aware of this rule though. Any older/wiser folks here know?

Honestly, I think a henka would have done less damage to Takakeisho than risk engaging him and injuring him more. Aoiyama would have caught a lot more flak for that. As much as I despise henka, I think this was the most merciful way of dealing with a guy who shouldn't have been there. To me, at least, Aoiyama actually going for the injured knee or forcing Takakeisho into a position where he would have been placing weight on it or twisting it would truly have been exploiting the injury in a nasty way.

I begrudgingly agree. I don't think Takakeisho's sumo is particularly intelligent, nor reflects the versatility/breadth of technique that I would personally like to see in a yokozuna. But it's not up to me. However, it would seem he has the perfect convergence of age and timing insofar as the top tier being on the wane so yushos may be there for the taking and it would be hard for the YDC to argue what with the Kisenosato precedent.

Aesthetically, I always preferred Harumafuji's; he had lovely poise and grace and an even build, which complimented it nicely. Kisenosato's was solemn (in a good way) but I didn't appreciate Hakuhou's until I saw it in person. His stage presence is very powerful and the build-up to the stomping is intense. It's strange how this never seems to really translate on camera.

Same, I'm not a fan of his, but his Takakeisho bout left me awestruck with appreciation of his timing and, frankly, brute strength. The way he swatted Takakeisho's head and neck a couple of times with seemingly little effort, but successfully sweeping him to the side left me open-mouthed. Takakeisho fought well but appeared utterly shocked by the onslaught of power. Tochinishin tried the same swatting once or twice in his bout but lacked (i) the timing; and (ii) the sheer power and build. As to Hakuhou's injury, the level of immediate pain is not always an indicator as to seriousness. Some injuries can burn like heck straight away but turn out to be low level and vice versa...which is exactly why one should see a doctor. I don't know why he is delaying seeking medical attention - the sooner he gets a diagnosis and opinion on a treatment plan, the sooner he can actually begin productive healing.

I'm disappointed that Tochinoshin will be demoted after such a short span. He has been unlucky with various injuries but alas, that is the way of the sumo beast. He made a few tactical mistakes today and overall didn't seem physically strong enough either. However, I can't feel excited about Takakeisho's promotion. His sumo is sinfully dull. But as long as his opponents keep falling for his same old routine and he stacks up the numbers, I can't argue with the mathematics of it.

I haven't read Hinomaru Zumou yet, but during last basho I saw quite a few people in the live stream chats were tuning into the real thing as a direct consequence of having read the manga or watched the anime, which is great. They seemed to really enjoy it too (both the manga and the basho). Hopefully it will propagate a whole new crop of enthusiastic fans.

Update:

Ura has had his surgery. He will be discharged on the 13th of this month and apparently will do his rehab in Kansai (I guess to be closer to home and family?). Watch this space.

I'm not sure how much can be attributed to the sport for the simple reason that if you look behind closed doors of many schools, even co-ed ones, or non-boarding ones, there will be plenty of incidents of bullying, whether by older kids to younger ones or big brutes in the same year towards weaker or more timid ones. These incidents never make the papers and are usually dealt with in-house. If police intervention is justified, they cannot be reported in the press (in some jurisdictions) because they are minors. In short, if someone is an arsehole and they think they can get away with it (either because they are sneaky and calculating about how the bullying/intimidation is inflicted or because they are confident that the victim won't tell), then they'll do it. Depending on whether this is identified and addressed effectively, it may also follow into their domestic lives as adults. This is true of 'regular' people outside of a sumo or other contact sport environment. The fact that sumo is a contact sport, with many strong ambitious young men under the same roof and the regime of hierarchy, may indeed aggravate the risk of inter-rikishi violence and bullying, but I do not believe for one minute that it creates it; plenty of kids in their teens will suffer beatings from fellow pupils or even their own parents or siblings. Many universities have problems with frat-house initiation hazings, though this also carries some aspect of hierarchy in a single-sex environment... Of course, that doesn't mean that such violence is 'normal' or indeed 'right', I'm just trying to lay down some context here. I think sumo's problem was that hazings etc. were basically part of sumo culture. I would like to think that sumo is moving away from that and that incidents such as these are isolated, or attributable to single arseholes, rather than because it is culturally acceptable. The oyakata does have a responsibility as he is their legal guardian and my heart breaks for a rikishi's family who have entrusted their son to a heya far from home, thinking he will be looked after. But even with Big Brother surveillance, a bully will always find an opportunity if they really want to.