Kaikitsune Makoto

Not just stills but still only a glimpes or 600.

8-0 rikishi: Hakuho looks pretty similar as always. Has those under armpits yanks to side and overall solid sumo without big problems. Today concentrated on having a powerful tachi-ai stopping Gagamaru and while the first slap down attempt went wrong, easily took morozashi at the next impact and dropped him with sukuinage. Against Goeido and Aran he had some scare (Goeido's shitatenage attempt and Aran's morozashi approach). Kotoshogiku is rather flawless, tachi-ai works, gabburi as always, very stable and calm. Today didn't let Kakuryu much chance as his tachi-ai was strong and immediately penetrated Kakuryu's defence getting into hidariyotsu and after that it was just yorikiri pressure followed by uwatenage. All his bouts have been good ones. Kisenosato, Baruto, Harumafuji, Hakuho to come but hard to see him not to go 2-2 or even better against them. Most likely result-wise strong ozeki debut this will be. 7-1 rikishi: Very good call by gyoji in favour of Kisenosato who had a horrible bout. Or to be fair to Kotooshu, it was actually 100% perfect tachi-ai by Osh getting inside and leaving Kisenosato in hopeless position without grips, balance high. Yet this desperation tsukiotoshi maneuvre and good dohyo edge hovering saved him this time. Big win for Kise as this a bad bad bout. Kotooshu must be cursing after this loss. Tomorrow Harumafuji agaist whom it is always a risk for Kise to fall into morozashi or other hapless situation. Tomorrow it is all about the initial 1,2 seconds which determines the nature of the bout. He can't afford as bad start as today. Kotooshu looks genki. Takekaze has had 3 good bouts in a row beating KOkkai with a nice throw, upsetting O3 and today pushing Aminishiki out. Takekaze does henka and slapdowns more often than "necessary" but he does have a flow now. Wakakoyu also 7-1 with a good forward going win today against Yoshikaze. 6-2 rikishi: Aoiyama's tachi-ai worked perfectly and he got good momentum and angle to get into good yotsu with energy from the tachi-ai taking him to a good yorikiri win over Takararuji (2-6). Aoiyama has makuuchi honeymoon and in many bouts things go his way from the start. Good rikishi. Miyogiryu's wins continue to impress. Today another total victory in 2 seconds against admittedly struggling Asasekiry (2-6). Miyogiryu's sumo is classy. Also, just realised it NOW that he is from Sakaigawa-beya where Goeido, Toyohibiki, Hochiyama, Sadanofuji (good 5-3 debut in makuuchi), Shironoryu ( avoided makekoshi in juryo today) amongst others grapple. Today feet+arms magic and easy win. Don't remember all his wins this basho by heart but at least agaist Asasekiryu, Kaisei, Tamawashi and Kokkai he has been quite overwhelming. The loss against Wakakoyu was after some good defending first and then succumbing to well-timed pull. Kotooshu is genki, today's Kisenosato bout was a good example of that. Kakuryu has now lost to two of his main rank rivals and has lost quite decisively too. Both Kisenosato and today Kotoshogiku dominated him from the start. Still 6-2 but needs to turn the tide fast and tomorrow is not easy against Baruto. Others: Harumafuji had 4 push+disengage-combos taking Tochinoshin gradually backwards and out. Looked sharp today while Tochinoshin 1-7.

I was sure Kotoshogiku (Kotokikutsugi then) will be at least sekiwake level rikishi when I saw his first bouts at sandanme level years ago, He was tarzanish back then and had the tools already. So 5 points for that. Now he has silently developed a strength from migiyotsu too and small all around increments to his power level and he is extremely difficult to outpower. He looks very much like a true ozeki now with his solid sumo, trademark yotsu (and now even from migiyotsu ie left hand outside he can work quite well) and confidence. Okinoumi showed his own rising overall quality and power too fighting tenaciously against Koto. My son is now a bit over 6 months and his tsuppari is the best among all babies I have seen ever. His kicks to my chest and sometimes jaw and eyes and stomach are very strong when he lies on his back on my knees. His mother is more of an endurance type lacking some fast constricting muscle cells but son is showing off pretty damn explosive and dynamic moves. Also his yoooooooooishoooo comes out suddenly and loud. Not yet able to do suriashi due to inability to stand/walk/speak German but his eyes are full of flames, enthusiasm and joy when dad does suriashi with kettle bell. Also he watches sumo keenly pumping his arms and shouting sporadically. His favourite on enlarged screen is Yoshikaze. Gagamaru makes him confused. He won't become a rikishi but he is my son and he is the best. He is not allowed to hold my Kisenosato-statue ( from KOKUGIKAN) because he likes to annihilate things. Speaking of which, Kisenosato fell to Goeido's only viable tactics against him which is morozashi attack. Kise did his admittedly strong pivoting combined with tsukiotoshi/katasukashi which he has used efficiently lately even against the lip tightening yokozuna. Goeido followed well, established a strong morozashi and Kise's kime-hold is not something Kise has done much so despite the enourmous power he didn't do much good with that before Goeido predictably dropped him with neat sotogake. Goeido looks quite good so far even if he is 2-3. Kisenosato indeed needs to beat Kakuryu tomorrow to get back on track. Both have been very good this basho. Kakuryu continued his own sumo finesse agaist Tochinoshin getting a better grip and being wary of Tochinoshin's tawara moves steadily ousted him to advance to a fine 5-0 of which at least 4 wins have been very convincing without much flaws. One of the highlight bouts tomorrow as Kakuryu needs to do what Goeido did today and not try to get in power game against Kise. The more I see Gagamaru, the more I feel his existence is important for sumo. I mean he is the classic behemoth who just uses his bulk and forward momentum to do his job on the dohyo. Makuuchi without Gagamaru would miss something definitely. Aoiyama is a bit similar in some ways and has good stuff but has something more than Gagamaru in general. Good debut for him. Miyogiryu has excellent natural dohyo sense or actually more like sumo sense and his technique is very sophisticated. He rarely fusses around, hassles or rushes things but just explosively seizes to openings, beats foes in grip duels and shows formidable finishing power even. Today he so totally suffocated any sumo in Kaisei and just outskilled him 100-0. Great rikishi and a definite asset in makuuchi. People who appreciate/understand finer details in sumo are surely his fans already. Observe the work of his hands on the dohyo. Toyonoshima has sometimes screwed up a bout against Harumafuji from the exact same deep inside grip but today defended well and while Harumafuji is the rikishi who can always come up with some good attempt even from rather disadvantageous situation, this time he was dumped well. Harumafuji often makes a smile-kind of face when squashed, no matter what, that is his losing expression. Such is life. At least it gets conspiracy hawks' attention and makes good material for forum's picture quote masters. Anyways, this bout was won and lost fully at the tachi-ai. Harumafuji is so far from any yokozuna talks now and is going for some 10-5 result. Kotooshu vs Aran was a text book (not that there are likely to be textbooks about this) example how Kotooshu's height gives him good leverage against rikishi as "small" as Aran. Migiyotsu is Osh's forte and he basically just lifts Aran enough while pulling him in so that Aran loses ground control and use of legs as powerful factors in the defensive moves. What the hell can you do when Osh pulls you in and lifts you up so and escorts out? Tochinoshin was earlier able to counter this as he is already so tall that leverage is more difficult to take away fully. I claim that the 4.5cm height difference between Tochinoshin and Aran is a big one in such bouts against Osh. Kotooshu 4-1 and looks reasonably good though, then again he has been able to do his sumo in many bouts and lost the one to Toyonoshima where he was outskilled in the technical phase of the bout. Aran is 0-5 and soon he gets his first win with a big henka for sure (not tomorrow...). Hakuho's lip tightening moves is annoying but who cares? Ikioi 5-0 hehehehehehehehehehehehehhehehe....that IS funny, not that he is bad, not at all, but his makushia-history is just awesome in its stunning formula (which was broken lately as he actually made the step up to get more 5-2 + results) but WHY is he not getting more muscles in his great frame?? He has the body to get that and doesn't have Takanoyamaish body style and problems gaining weight. Nobody "toys" or "plays" with Homasho who has true physical power and even good own style but he is totally lost and most likely his back is troublesome as he is very unstable now and that is not usual. Kokonoe sekitori were combined 1-8 aftter 3 days but now more light as Chiyonokuni showed a great tsukiotoshi and also sharpness in his first winning bout today and Chiyozakura has looked a bit better too. Tochinowaka continues to show his vastly improved sharpness by not falling to Yoshikaze's fast sumo. Great transformation. There are some good newcomers in makuuchi folks! Aoiyama, Tochinowaka, Okinoumi, Miyogiryu....

Okinoumi looks fearless and never seems to belittle his chance on the dohyo (based on the dohyo action). Also power is good and skill too. Very good newcomer indeed to the higher ranks. He can take oshi and yotsu attacks well too. Today he outskilled Baruto from the start and survived Baruto's trademark power yanks before forcibly blocking the last attempt escorting his out. Good stuff. Kyokutenho read Harumafuji well with that kime-hold and squeezed the inevitable morozashi pivot throw into a crushing kimetaoshi. Surprising win but well executed. Kisenosato's thrusts have so much power that it is nearly impossible for lower power level rikishi to beat him in such scenario. Solid sumo once again beating foes he should beat. Goeido's shitatenage attempt seemed explosive and had effect, not enough but effect still. Shogun's sumo is stable too although Homasho did actually do some sumo today and not being tosanoumish. Tochinowaka is like Okinoumi in many ways now. The increased sharpness in his sumo has taken him to all new level. Totally dominating against Aran and his sumo in general is very strong and even aggressive (which was not the case say 1-2 years ago). 3-0 and surely interesting to see him against sanyaku. Gagamaru didn't know what to do with Kakuryu who was very capable of just steadily advancing and defending against Gagamaru's reasonably erratic all out attack moves.

Somethig that I always wanted to ask, but fnally got the right context... Who is (was) forum member #3 and why is (s)he missing from the list? Me, I was only Kaikitsune back then and the first thread seems to be my post even. 10 years ago I wrote that on my 26th birthday. Now 36th birthday tomorrow. Such is life. Sumoforum lost most of its Swedes it seems. Yubiquitoyama gone, Kashunowaka's mysterious disappearance was a big topic back in time. Tokimori vanished, Maguroyama vanished. Swedes gone. No more Swedes. My active days were in the past but it is good to see sumoforum is still going, if not strong, at least going. Small circles naturally but such is life.

Conspiracies or not, whether all his bouts in last 5 basho have some kind of agenda or not, the fact is though that he has good record against ALL sanyaku/high maegashira rikishi including quite a big advantage against Harumafuji and 10-10 against Baruto. Only Hakuho has been very difficult as he has been to all rikishi and Tokitenku is some kind of nemesis to him. Other than those, he has shown he is second to nobody. And he HAS improved his sumo a lot in last year or so. He has become formidable even in migiyotsu and beats everyone in hidariyotsu when he gets his gappuri going and even without that, he is almost invincible from that position.

Thank you for your contributions. I got 13 donations altogether and yearly fee covered fully. <bow>

Always the quiet time during the request so once more a reminder if someone else is willing to donate. Thank you for the 7 donations so far.

3 donations so far, thanks again to the donators. This is a reminder if someone else is willing to participate in financing the forum.

Year has gone by, many people dead, many born. Sumoforum goes on with unchanged expenses compared to 2010. Last year I got pretty much all costs covered thanks to donations by forum members. I am again asking for donations, reasons are same as before, I covered all the costs for years and don't want to do that anymore. My Paypal and bank account info (with BIC, IBAN) are unchanged too but send me PM (private message) if you are willing to contribute to expenses and I will send you the necessary info there. The cost of running sumoforum is 4x63 euros + some registration fee of few euros per year making it around 260-270 euros per year. I am also "Rijicho" of the forum but use this Kaikitsune Makoto-account so send pm to this account. Thank you for your co-operation and benevolence.

I wonder if Jaromir Jagr knows Takanoyama's existence and admires his tottari. No tottari today but explosive kotenage for sure. Takamisakari is weak, he looks physically weak. It is possible that ex-Tochiazuma's sumo soul has infilitrated Fujiazuma who looks at times as calculating and poised as did his oyakata usually on the dohyo. Perfect example today keeping Sagatsukasa in sight, not rushing it at all and just closing in and attacking when opening came. Amazingly calm sumo and smart. Like Doitsuyama wrote, he appears to be similar as always in theory but something has clicked now better and he actually looks like the rikishi he was supposed to become years ago. Takayasu is another quality rikishi, today calm shita kara stoppage of Kimurayama's charge and using that power of his to easily move forward. Takayasu has this kakuryuish or aminishikish subtle skill and ability along with pretty all around quality sumo skills. Great new Naruto "star". 6-1 and well deserved. He is always calm even when cornered or pushed back. He seems to always have time. Good. Toyohibiki had also a good bout with less sloth-like Tochinowaka, always good to see nnnghh-bouts. Asasekiryu threw down Daido well with shitatenage. Homasho had a semi-accidental loss yesterday with some slipping but other than that he has been quite stable and forward going. Good basho 6-1, not much problems with Miyabiyama. O3 had a good one yesterday against Aran in migiyotsu. He was weaker a year ago when forced into such static yotsu but now had good power duel against Aran. Today easy morozashi charge against Tokitenku. O3 looks quite good. Wakanosato flipped Gagamaru well with sukuinage. Always great to see giants fall big.

One article reports that Takateru got concussion and was wobbly and all but was checked at the arena and was seen walking on his own saying daijoubu leaviing the arena.

Way to honour the chance to meet the yokozuna. Bravo Wakakoyu, very spirited attack with all out, no regrets, no visible tension. Great stuff.

Kakuryu and Kisenosato: 3-3 record in last 6 encounters, tactics is clear, Kakuryu wants to get inside while Kise tries to keep him away. Today very solid pushing attack and piss off you morozashi midget-attitude kept Kakuryu away and it was quite one-sided win. One of the best wins for Kise this basho. Kakuryu is great in general when he gets into his own form. 5-2 and strong wins over two ozeki. Shogun is very strong this basho, day 1 loss brought some "choking already" comments from a prominent musician but police is investigating the matter now. Naturally it all depends on how he does against ozeki and Hakuho but so far he has dominated Kisenosato, Goeido, Tochinoshin which is already a lot. Not much chance for Yoshikaze. Shogun was just too strong Harumafuji had some scare for the first time this basho but solved the problem of letting Goeido in by launching an explosive throw. 7-0 and yusho favourite for sure. Almost perfect sumo all basho and sharpness at its best.

Naruto oyakata is known to favour weight training as part of training regime. All sekitori (in all stables) are muscular, Takanoyama is much less muscular than Kisenosato or Wakanosato who are both very beefy (also Takayasu is very muscular) but Takanoyama just doesn't have the fat. Why? Probably due to training habits of lot of keiko and natural aversion to eating huge amounts of food + body type. Czech amateur sumoman Shiroikuma said back in the mediocre old days that he brought Takanoyama protein drinks etc and encouraged him to gain weight without much success. Takanoyama has gained weight slowly over the years and basically only muscle. Takanoyama is one of the greatest stories of oozumo and unique career in many ways.

Some observations: Kotoshogiku looked very powerful and thick today against Tochinoshin. Thick is a way that he looks like a rikishi with all possible organs thick from toe to eye fat. Tochinoshin got his left hand outside but Kotoshogiku broke the grip and then simply outpowered Tochinoshin. He may or may not be ozeki material but he is for sure stronger physically than year ago. He was tarzan in his early sandanme/makushita days and nowadays a muscular hippo. Kisenosato managed to get in a bad bout on day 2 but looked sharp and also showed a lot of horse power in his moves. Goeido didn't have his best day but very one-sided win. Okinoumi is dangerous with left hand inside but wasn't able to beat Wakanosato with that today. Still Okinoumi is also a rikishi with elevated strength level as was well witnessed in his day 2 burly win against right hand outside Kaisei. Contrary to what the Man wrote on another thread, Kotooshu didn't have much to do with Tosayutaka's injury. Tosayutaka tried his trademark on the edge bending action and his leg got straightened and twisted. Looked more like hamstring injury based on the replay but I suppose knee it is then. Kotooshu did slam him but Tosayutaka's put himself there with his own respectable to the bitter end-fight. Harumafuji looks flawless, just beautiful control in small details. Confident and sharp, if things stay like this, he will beat everyone. Tokitenku vs Aran was a good one too, Aran doing his usual moves with tsuri, pivots and overall migiyotsu power play while Tenku has his ability to withstand quite a lot of power in that position and then has his perfect timing for one of the best uchigake of the year. Brilliant. Tochinowaka looks like a absent-minded and a bit soft giant who can generate but who looks as if he was always a bit of a sloth. Still 3-0. He needs some more sharpness and more sushi. It must feel good to beat Gagamaru since Gagamaru always comes forward and throws around his stomach and all, he is a simple rikishi and you know what you get. Homasho used his typical leaning posture and tenacity, got a grip and had a good power win. Plenty of good sumo so far it seems.

Tremendous effort, best way to introduce new juryo and returnees, big service to sumoforum. Hopefully members appreciate this a lot. Thanks a lot. <bow>

Okinoumi is powerful, has good height (190cm), evidently does good keiko and is now healthier. He had lower back problems and shoulder problems. He has beefed up quite a lot in the last year or so (definitely over 150kg clearly now) and resembles Tokusegawa in many ways. He can generate a lot of power which has been shown well this basho also in bouts he lost (like the one against Baruto) and also has good sumo senses and skills. Ex-Chiyotaikai commented today he looks forward to seeing how strong he will become eventually. He has all the ingredients at least and is only 25 years old. He doesn't have striking weaknesses as far as I can see. Room for refinement and further development for sure.

Kisenosato's name has come up before in fleeting yaocho topics like the weird one about Asashoryu and yaocho back in the days and always as an example of a rikishi who does not engage in such. I doubt Wakanoho had some kind of extra warm relations with Kisenosato and wouldn't have any motivation to single him out in a positive light without a reason. In any case, whatever the scope of yaocho is in professional sumo, whatever the cultural way of Japan may be (yaocho is embedded in the culture etc), these "lone" warriors who go their own way not succumbing to a "dirty" system (even if it was not considered dirty in the actual society itself) are the real pearls in my opinion. Kisenosato is my number one favourite rikishi so the naturally the more than 50-50 chance that he actually represents the ideal way (in my world) is comforting. In general, regardless of who may be clean or not, the type of rikishi who would stick to going for a win in every single bout is the ideal rikishi in my world. If the system is riddled with yaocho and yaocho is considered quite normal and yet a rikishi X never changes his way always going for a win, he gets my full respect. Damn statue should be erected for individuals like that. In my sumo world senpais are respected by trying to rip their hearts out sumowise whenever meeting them on the dohyo, no matter what situation, all bouts are approached with only a single thought "This is the only moment that matters, this very bout, this very sumo bout, there is no yesterday, tomorrow or 2018, only a chance to go all out regardless of anything". If only the world of sumo, Japan and individual minds were as simple as that.

Big salt, big character, big man. Nowadays Nishikido-oyakata winning his maegashira yusho in Nagoya 1992 as M1. Some of his bouts are shown in that clip including less obese Musashimaru, Takanonami, Wakanohana, Takatoriki, Kotonishiki. Also some dynamic Terao sumo against Musashimaru. And found this one too, utchari-party and 3 torinaoshi.

Tosanoumi was Tosanoumi. He had thinnest calves in relation to size and thighs. His grunting was loudest in makuuchi. His bouts against Musoyama were often very intense and true bison style bing bangs repeatedly, His stumbling became a bit tragicomic at one point. He often took direct eye contact right after the moment his foe stepped out, lifted his head and looked straight into the eyes of his foe in rather unique way. He almost always rejected the helping hand of his foe when down on the dohyo or off the dohyo by forming an international stop-gesture with his palm facing toward the foe, sometimes combined that with particular lip rounding move. He had one of the oddest losses against Musoyama where Musoyama had just given up on the edge when Tosa turned the nnnnghhh into a throw/pivoting move enabling Musoyama to continue to his (Musoyama's great surprise) and Muso ended up winning after that. It was a really funny moment in life. Naturally he just didn't see Musoyama just gave up 0.2 seconds before his unnecessary pivot. He had strong left hand outside grip which he used to launch some spectacular throws.

It is odd rikishi stop updating without any notice. After all there are many readers/fans who like those. Especially rikishi who have no major disasters like Kotoshogiku who just vanished. Strange. Futeno on the other hand is obviously annihilated. Illness, gambling whatever stuff must have happened. He even was the main blogger in makuuchi and his blog was known well. Then, nothing all of a sudden. No explanation, not even a laconic comment like "This blog won't be updated anymore", just silence. I believe Futeno has some non-healing debilitating injury which destroyed him. Nobody gets that weak considering his former horse power.

His sumo style is based on power and since his power level is going up little by little, his sumo gets stronger too. He has skillful technique but quite simple too. Reports from keiko indicate he is strong enough now to also do well in basic yotsu against strong foes, something that was not the case when his power level was less. Maturity sure but most important is the step by step power increase. As he goes forward mostly, the comments by some of his keiko opponents that "he has gotten stronger" is easily understood as that strength is felt immediately by the opponents. Not really surprising he is doing this well.

Ms14w Ikioi (4-1) oshidashi Ms17w Kyokushuho (3-2) Ikioi the "great frame talent" is going strong getting his best ever 3 basho streak in makushita since his makushita debut in May 2006! And he got kachi koshi already at his career high rank. 191cm/131kg lazy looking talent may well become a sekitori soon or fade back into mid makushita. He is still only 23 years old. And he did this by beating another talent who has not been advancing as well as predicted by many. Both there rikishi have what many Japanese rikishi in particular lack: height and reach in a slender package. Way too many tall Japanese rikishi are big fat men who have no real substance in their sumo nor good athletism.