rokudenashi

Exciting first 3 days particularly in jūryō with 4 prospects leading the race at this early stage. Kotoshōhō of course already has makuuchi experience, and I expect we'll see the other 3 there too in the future (Kaishō, Asanowaka, Kitanowaka). Hope they can keep it up as a battle between those guys would make for the most interesting jūryō championship since the 3-way Tatsunami playoff back in July 2020. As for makushita, if Kinbōzan continues his winning ways, a match against Ryūden and/or Atamifuji would be fantastic - I am unsure what to make of his current level, but he looks to have all the tools; certainly more well-rounded than Hokuseihō, who he might also bump into along the way. Anyway, it's too early to make any useful speculation, I'm just getting overeager...

Either that or simply a thrust-out using the head (to the chest, torso area) - these days I expect tsukidashi would be used to describe such a technique

He has been quite active on the channel recently, starting a series of videos where he challenges random fellas to a bout, and if they win, he'll give them the equivalent of $860 USD, or £640 GBP. The entertainment is laid on thick and probably not for sumō purists, but I found it quite entertaining. Here's the latest video, where he takes on actor Ryōma Morimoto, rugby player Shinsuke Nakamura (not the pro wrestler!), and former Kindai sumo club member Kenta Kawai: As an aside, here's Kawai competing against a much smaller Ura at the 2014 All Japan Student Championships. Looking at both guys now, it is as if they have swapped physiques.

Atamifuji's day trip up to jūryō went about as well as it possibly could, with a complete steamrolling of Yago. He is so exciting to watch right now.

To get it out of the way before the holidays

Happy birthday

He has some good size and a fitting background, I will be keeping an eye on him. I wonder where his mum's from.

Welcome to the forum - and thanks to you, I learned that there is a bird called a sea cat in Japanese! Hope you enjoy your time here!

Interesting, I recall that he had lost some weight leading up to his retirement; since that sometimes happens with rikishi on their way out I half expected him to have dropped a bit more by now. He must still be on the chanko. Edit: trying to identify the rikishi behind him in that photo, anyone know?

In Buddhist tradition there are memorial services held on the 49th and 100th days following a person's death (reference: this article). Perhaps it was the family's choice to delay the announcement.

To me this is the real big issue... more tournament days might even out the number of bouts fought but economically it would be a major step backwards. As you have suggested, you would lose one regional market and one tournament in Tōkyō, which I'd imagine would damage Kokugikan profits somewhat, external leases notwithstanding. Competitively speaking I see where you're coming from (although I fear for the health of the rikishi in the last few days) but considering the bottom line I can't see it working. One tournament every other month is a reasonable frequency for profits and for the rikishi - it has worked for 60+ years after all.

I was watching footage of the 1947 June tournament last night and noticed something interesting (to me, at least) - the top rikishi at the time all made their entrances into the venue in western-style clothing, wearing their hair in a very loose mage, if you can even call it that. The footage is behind the NSK's paywall so I have provided a few screenshots below. It makes sense for them to be dressing this way given the political situation of the time, but nonetheless quite jarring to see. Does anyone have more information about this, and perhaps any similar practices that were imposed upon Ōzumō during the occupation? Thanks in advance. Futabayama (Tokitsukaze-oyakata at this point): Azumafuji: Maedayama: Haguroyama: Chiyonoyama:

Interesting reading for Shiba's new shikona - second kanji 雷 is usually read as "rai" in this context, but I assume it's taking the reading for 電 instead... For what it's worth, historical Ōzeki Raiden's shikona was written as 雷電. Also, there's a female pro wrestler by the name of Io Shirai, whose surname takes the same reading as aratamete-Shiden. Maybe they were trying to avoid that connection.

To briefly return to the subject of Takanoshō's questionable eligibility for a shukunshō - to his credit he has beaten 3 san'yaku in this tournament (Shōdai, Meisei, Kiribayama), whereas Daieishō only managed one other san'yaku victory (Meisei) outside of his kinboshi. Of course the kinboshi comes with far more significance than beating an Ōzeki. Time to go check the historical precedents... and having done so, based on the past few years, every hiramaku shukunshō recipient did indeed defeat a yokozuna, which Takanoshō has not accomplished. So I'm now inclined to believe he won't get it, even with an 11-4. Indeed. He has fought fiercely this basho, which rather conveniently matches the description of the prize (敢然と闘う), doesn't it!

So no nimaikansatsu allowed?