Eikokurai

I don’t think anyone would have blamed Aoiyama for engaging Takakeisho. I’m pretty sure most people would recognize it was the latter’s decision to put himself on the dohyo.

If I could get into Facebook, I could get on YouTube. Alas, I'm behind the great firewall of China and without a VPN at home and lack the tech skills to get one without having a VPN already. Thanks though. That said, perhaps I can find their stream somewhere else.

Whoever does the QQ stream turned it on today, only for it not to work and for them to turn it off after an hour without having shown a single bout. Annoying. Reduced yet again to an afternoon of refreshing the results page ... sigh. Still, at least the guy who uploads highlights videos is fairly dependable. Glad to see Tochinoshin move within one of his return to Ozeki. I'd say it's as near to a certainty as can be that we'll have four Ozeki in July, barring an almighty collapse or injury. Takayasu and Goeido are quietly encroaching upon the yusho race, despite neither looking particularly in form. I think the deficit of two will be too great to overcome, but they do still have to face Tochinoshin and Kakuryu, so anything is possible. They can certainly still influence things and keep up the pressure.

You'd have to ask him. :) I suppose I'd rather go up with a yusho to my name though.

Takagenji stays perfect and moves to 10-0. He has a three-bout lead in the yusho race with only five days to go, so could wrap it up quite early. Looking like a dead cert for the promotion.

The China branch of the sumo forum has a regular meetup in my living room. We’re looking to expand to two members.

Weill the secret service shoot any rikishi who happens to fall in Trump’s direction? Lucky there’s no chance for Kotoyuki to be in the final three bouts. He could find Trump no matter what row he was sitting in.

I like that turn of phrase.

Good spot! Though with the caveat that okurigake was an expansion kimarite added in 2001, so it’s not been around forever. Still, in 18 years there have been plenty of basho and bouts in which it could have been used but wasn’t, so ... awesome!

Tamanoumi: Yon-ju-hachi nen buri ni shihai o motteru so! Tamawashi: Hai! Washi no tsume de tsukamitorimasu! Tamanoumi is saying something along the lines of “Finally got the Emperor’s Cup for the first time in 48 years!”. Tamawashi replies “Yes! It’s grasped in the eagle’s claws!” The ‘washi’ in Tamawashi means ‘eagle’, so it’s a play on words. My Japanese is still pretty elementary to be honest, but I noticed your post had gone unanswered for a while so thought I’d take a first shot at the basic meaning. I think it’s more or less right, but I’m sure a better speaker than me can provide more nuance. @Terukuni

Thanks, that’s interesting, but I meant on a single day by all rikishi. On day three there were eight bouts before we saw a repeat kimarite. The first seven bouts were all decided by different techniques. Today it was five. It got me thinking what’s the most number of bouts gone by before a kimarite was used again.

Yes, that’s happened. Kaiketsu is your man. He reached Ozeki twice in the 1970s.

Koteoko ends the run of a different kimarite in every bout at five. I feel the need to find out what the longest streak of unique kimarite is. In this basho it was seven on day three. Anyone know? Kagayaki really has the best belly flop in sumo right now. Today's one against Shodai was a thing of beauty. I think he even attempted a pike on the way down. I enjoyed Onosho v Yoshikaze, including the apologetic way Onosho nestled his head on Yoshikaze's chest after the second matta. Asanoyama is first to kachikoshi, though he let a couple of chances to end the bout slip past when Ryuden was stumbling. Still, he's technically in the yusho race. Disappointed for Myogiryu in that one. I wanted him to win just for that great bit of defence in the middle of the bout, but Takayasu was patient.

Hakuho’s numbers in the lower divisions only look good in retrospect, because we now know who he went on to be, but at the time those numbers were not all that noteworthy. Many a rikishi before him had produced similar or better records and gone on to achieve very little. His potential was known, but plenty of people also thought he was too small (it took him two years to reach the weight Enho is now). There wasn’t much to suggest he was going to become a great Yokozuna. His rise through the toriteki ranks was modestly paced, with no real breakthrough or standout tournaments, and it took him more than two and a half years to work his way up to sekitori status. Maybe that’s what RPedro had in mind.

Cue a group of women in leotards sitting in the box in front of you. And then forming a human pyramid.