Leoben

Regardless of the quality of the bouts, it's amazing that Sumo sold 27,000 tickets in London. Maybe this will finally force the Kyokai to take notice of the potential of the international market.

I am choosing to believe the matches aren't fixed. Especially Ura's.

For some reason I thought Hakuho fought at 165 but I just checked and you're right. He was 4 cm taller and only 3 or 4 kg heavier. If you put them side by side I would have guessed the difference was much bigger. Asashoryu was shorter and lighter than his nephew, but he looked a lot thicker and he had power in spades. I'd bet on him to beat any of today's big guys in a strength contest, with the exception of Onosato.

Hoshoryu keeps winning, but he won't be happy with how he's doing it. Instead of thrusting to earn the position he kept reaching for the belt and failing. Lucky he didn't lose today, again.

Kirishima would be the first Mongolian to make Ozeki and not make Yokozuna wouldn't he? Not a huge sample group, just 7, but it is something.

I read this with a bad japanese accent and had to do a double take to realize it was just English lol

Aonishiki keeps impressing me. Great back and forth belt battle with Kirishima, with both jockeying for position, and as soon as Kirishima tried to reposition and transition to an inside grip Aonishiki read the move and pounced, pivoting out and around Kirishima, getting behind him, and forcing him out from an undefendable position. The speed at which he reads and reacts to his opponents and exploits the openings they give him is unreal.

Does it look like he's lost weight? I watched the match a couple times and I think he looks he's less W I D E than in recent tournaments. May just be my imagination though. Either way, great first showing. He may have broken through a plateau.

Love watching video non-videos of not so famous people in history

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.