Jemuzu

Surprising the YDC didn’t recommend retirement after the 10-5s

I always wondered how he would fare against an average punter in the crowd. Maybe they could make a gameshow along those lines as his next career move.

They’re probably concerned about the lack of hinkaku shown by Chiyomaru on social media when he used to go round waking everyone up

It seems like we did… The 9th has been and gone and no news? Perhaps it was a storm in a teacup

That would make sense as a fallback if his comeback didn’t work out

Interesting that as for Asanoyama he tried to lie his way out of it at first. Not sure it would’ve made a difference if he had confessed all, given the zero tolerance approach to all drugs in Japan (except alcohol of course!).

Agree Kyokutaisei’s is very cool. Although he ditched it at the end of the basho

Great news for Terunofuji and great news for sumo given what has happened to the Yokozuna campaigns of Asanoyama and Takakeisho (I considered including Shodai in that statement, then thought better of it).

People complain about rikishi giving bland, boring interviews but then complain about a genuine show of emotion such as Hakuho’s celebration. The man’s career was under threat and he’s just gone and won a zensho yusho! I was really half expecting a retirement announcement in the yusho interview but I guess that would have invalidated him from participating in the Olympic dohyo iri. Little signs like the way he bowed down to the edge of the dohyo before the bout, and then Enho acting as his tsukebito made me wonder if this is the end (of course it could still be). I hope not because for me watching Hakuho is still something special and something I don’t want to end.

How is that even possible?

I can only guess he thinks he was impeded by the gyoji at the end but clearly didn’t make any difference to the result

How about Kiribayama?

On day 1, Gagamaru surprisingly turns up in a white van and takes to the dohyo wearing an ill fitting mawashi. Seemingly powered by some mystery force that takes him back to January 2012, he powers his way to a 7-0 sandanme yusho. Upon accepting the yusho certificate, as he bends to bow a small trinket is forced out of the mawashi and cracks on the dohyo floor, to reveal a small amount of grey dust. This finally solves what had become rab-bit of a mystery

The second time his knee went, I really thought he Ura was done. Going to be really interesting to see if Terunofuji can keep it going. He was destroying the opposition in Juryo and now makuuchi, the only limiting factor seems to be staying fit for the full 2 weeks

Par score is bound to be low though with the huge dollop of randomness thrown in this time