Leoben

Sort of tangential to this, but what are the salaries of Oyakata? I assume Hakkaku and the other senior positions make a substantial salary, but what about the rank and file stablemasters and the coaches who don't run their own heya?

Really impressed with Kusano today. His match gave me Yokozuna vibes. Not because I think either of them will get the rope (way too early to know with Kusano, probably too late for Kirishima), but because of how it played out. The speed at which they fought, the way it progressed, and how it ended made me feel like I was watching two Yokozuna going at it.

It happened again! (Full credit to Aonishiki, he looks special)

Check twitter around 11:00 am > The first thing I see is Wakamotoharu being interviewed > OK, someone gave up another kinboshi

Aonishiki making waves! It's good to be back. For some reason the break between Natsu and this one felt longer than usual.

I get it, that was uncharitable of me. Talent, skill, motivation, ability to learn... all of these exist in a continuum and all are interconnected with each other, they're not binaries and they can't be isolated. People are differently abled and I shouldn't be making assumptions that a particular athlete is lazy or unwilling when it could be as you said.

Atamifuji is clearly not part of the hot young prospects club. He had those two good performances from the bottom of Makuuchi in 2023, but it's been over a year and a half since then and in that time he's never gotten more than 8 wins. When I watch him I feel like he doesn't have much going for him other than being really big and heavy. Also if having three Yokozuna in his corner is not enough to light a fire under his ass and make him want to get better he doesn't have the mentality to be a winner. Terunofuji's comments practically make me dislike him. Imagine having all the physical tools and the coaching and just being like "nah I'm good".

Hoshoryu has a 6-2 record against Onosato, and one of those loses is a fusen. It would be funny if this becomes a thing.

Great stuff. Beautiful sumo. So much nuance.

URA! Takayasu looked completely stunned after that. Looked like he might be concussed or injured, he was very slow to get up and leave the dohyo.

Does anyone get the feeling when watching Onosato that he's actually stronger than his size should make him? Oho and Atamifuji are not that much smaller than him, and neither of them can just run through people the way he does. And he does it without having to get down low to generate leverage. He can be standing completely upright and he will just power through opponents that are very strong in their own right. It makes me wonder if he's one of those freak athletes that have abnormally high muscle density.

How nice of Kirishima to sweep the dohyo with his face, such consideration.

Something that has impressed me about Aonishiki is how fast thinks and makes decisions. Both in yesterday's match and today he saw openings to pull, pounced on them instantly, and when it didn't work he transitioned back to his normal attack seamlessly.

I think Aonishiki's smallness is overstated. He's listed as 182 cm and 138 kg at age 21. He's not tall, but he has a broad frame with a lot of muscle for his size, and he's young so he will probably continue to put on weight and build more muscle as he matures. Hakuoho is actually 1 centimeter shorter than him while being nearly 160kg, and he's got that prized refrigerator/brick outhouse build that is great for outputting power.

Same. I feel like all of his bouts are interesting, win or lose.