BASHO TALK -- Natsu 2017 -- SPOILERS

[dada78641 884]

Was at a sento (Japanese style bathhouse) for a good two hours today. Ran into a sumo wrestler. But I was too starstruck to ask his shikona...

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Well me and several others were proven wrong in our predictions about Yutakayama this basho, have fun down with the Juryo in Nagoya.

Ura keeping it real, always fun to watch him.

An exciting match between the komusubi, but experience won out as we saw.

Now matter how hard he tried, Chiyonokuni just could not shake Takayasu there. Magic number 2 now!

What possessed Geek all of a sudden??? He looked so out of it until yesterday and now the humpty-bumpty worked like magic today!

Terunofuji looking in top form and aiming to finish with double digits two basho in a row for the first time since he got promoted to ozeki. 

At 5-4, the rank is now Goeido's to lose. Still has all three yokozuna left.

Big test for Hakuho as he meets the hungry Takayasu gunning for ozeki.

Hopefully Harumafuji didn't injure himself too much, but Tamawashi I think shouldn't be ashamed about today.

Kise at this point should concentrate on first getting KK, and then hopefully can work to get at least a 10-5 for the basho.

[ALAKTORN 346]

7 hours ago, Rocks said:

Very good match between Yamaguchi and  Osunaarashi but Yamaguchi got him in the end. Osunaarashi is KK.

That’s a MK makekoshi, not KK kachikoshi.

[Rocks 1,807]

1 minute ago, ALAKTORN said:

That’s a MK makekoshi, not KK kachikoshi.

You're right.  I should probably sleep instead of watching sumo and trying to comment. 

[Rocks 1,807]

3 hours ago, Pandaazuma said:

Really?  Was he limping or something?

He landed awkwardly on Aoiyama. He did the adjust your back thing you do and he seemed a bit tentative for second. Maybe nothing.

[Rocks 1,807]

1 hour ago, lackmaker said:

Well maybe. But I wonder how many of us thought "fake matta" at the time.

It happened WAY to fast and since Ishiura is known for the henka it made it pretty obvious.

[PawnSums 59]

So apparently I was in a half-coma, So I have no idea of what's happened since Friday, so here's my thoughts:

I see an Ura yusho... (12-3)

Jun-Yusho: Takayasu, Terunofuji, Hakuho (12-3)

Kanto-Sho: Ura, Takayasu

Shukun-Sho: Ura

Gino Sho: Ura? Or no-one...

[Dwale 419]

Chiyonokuni does not appear to have suffered any diminishing of his fighting spirit after a hard first week. This is what I look for in a rikishi. I will be keeping a very close eye on him to see how he rebounds. 

Did Mitakeumi not see that coming a mile away? (As always, it's easy criticize from the comfort of my chair, here, but it was just one of those "Dude, watch out for the hataki-! Dangit...")

[robnplunder 974]

55 minutes ago, PawnSums said:

So apparently I was in a half-coma, So I have no idea of what's happened since Friday, so here's my thoughts:

I see an Ura yusho... (12-3)

Jun-Yusho: Takayasu, Terunofuji, Hakuho (12-3)

Kanto-Sho: Ura, Takayasu

Shukun-Sho: Ura

Gino Sho: Ura? Or no-one...

Ha ha.   Obviously, u r a diehard Ura fan?   I love him but he will started to get matched with tougher opponent and he'd be lucky to finish with 10 wins.   No yusho for him but I agree he will get one of the 3 prizes.

[RabidJohn 1,663]

Shohozan looked very nervous about letting that crafty little bugger in pink get anywhere near, with the result that he back-pedalled himself out. I never imagined Ura intimidating anyone!

At nearly 38, has Takekaze finally worn out all the grip on his feet?

Win or lose, it's all great experience for Mitakeumi, and it appeared to be experience that won the day between two otherwise well matched rikishi. Has Yoshikaze realized he's old enough to be using wiliness instead of his usual reckless abandon?

Did Hakuho fall when he shouldn't have, as Moti suggested on his video? My first impression was that he skillfully avoided kneeing Aoiyama in the head...

I thought Harumafuji overdid things at the tawara today, so for me the injury was largely self-inflicted. Hopefully it won't affect his yusho chances too aversely, because he had been looking pretty good overall.

[Jakusotsu 5,806]

14 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

Shohozan looked very nervous about letting that crafty little bugger in pink get anywhere near, with the result that he back-pedalled himself out. I never imagined Ura intimidating anyone!

More like his Tsuppari attempts being even less effective against a submarine attack than usual.

[Yubinhaad 11,545]

If Kotoyuki does participate tomorrow after his fusenpai, he'll be the first sekitori to do that twice (the list of previous cases was posted last year after Kagamio joined the club). And if he's unable to compete tomorrow, he'll be the 7th sekitori to get two consecutive fusenpai in the 15-day era.

Of course, he could make history twice in one fell swoop by getting the second fusenpai tomorrow and then competing on Day 11...

[Benevolance 2,478]

Of course, he could make history twice in one fell swoop by getting the second fusenpai tomorrow and then competing on Day 11...

In the era of Hakuho, a clever rikishi must pick and choose their record-setting aspirations carefully. 

[Benihana 1,901]

13 hours ago, Rocks said:

Wow, Satoyama beat Takagenji by basically allowing Takagenji to beat on his face for 2 minutes to wear himself out. It's was like Rocky vs Apollo Creed. Awesome.

Video link, or it didn't happen! 

[Amamaniac 2,078]

The double supporter and X-rays aside, Hakuho seems to be having trouble with his right elbow this tournament.  He has been keeping his right arm as still as possible, as seen in his reach for salt etc.  In his squats, he presses his left hand on his left knee , while he chooses to rest his right forearm (gently) on his right knee.  Despite the injury, in the heat of his bouts, he still resorts to using his right arm.

He fell on his right elbow in his Day 1 bout against Chiyonokuni.  His right hand thrusts looked weak in his Day 2 bout against Yoshikaze.  He used his right arm again to throw (uwatenage) Chiyoshoma on Day 3 giving that arm a shake after getting up.  He relied on a right underarm grip in his Day 4 bout.  On Day 5, he switched to a left hand belt grip against Mitakeumi, and kept his right arm out of the scuffle.   On Day 6, most of his tactical thrusts were with his left hand, however, he did get a solid right hand thrust in at the end.  On Day 7, he forced Daieisho out of the ring with a left hand grip, again avoiding having to use his right arm.  On Day 8, he started with a left hand grip, and as soon as he was able to get a matching right hand grip, he used the right arm to throw Kotoshogiku.

In his Day 9 bout, he went to his right hand to execute an uwatedashinage.  He may well have aggravated the right elbow yet again in the throw of 193kg Aoiyama.  To top it all off, he landed on that arm when he fell.

Is Hakuho his own worst enemy?  Is he risking more serious injury just to get this championship?  Smart or not, I've got to admire Hakuho's desire to win.

[Bumpkin 438]

Y1e Kisenosato is now 6-3. He needs 4 more wins to get a respectable 10 wins. He has S2e Kotoshogiku (2-7) on day 10; Then he probably faces S1e Tamawashi (6-3) on day 11; O2w Goeido (5-4) on day 12; O1e Terunofuji (7-2) on day 13; Y2w Hakuho (9-0) on day 14 and Y2e Harumafuji (9-0) on day 15. That's going to be very difficult to achieve. We shall see.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Bumpkin

[Amamaniac 2,078]

8 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Right toe and ankle. Iced it up in the shitakubeya later and used a supporter later to support it.. "My opponent (Tamawashi) is very spirited so i was wondering if I should cushion his attack or blow him away.. I caused my own injury. How heavy is he anyway?? (172 kilos, sir...) " he said later. "It's like getting a finger jammed and it's happened to me lots of times, but a toe is very important. Still, I'm fine.." he added.

I never know what to believe when top wrestlers confide to the press about their injuries (esp. when they are in the middle of an official tournament).  No contender is going to go public about how serious their injury is and reveal weakness to their future opponents.  In his fall from the ring on Day 9, it looked like Haru landed (hard or not) on his already injured (c.f., tensor bandaging) right knee.  He was rather unsteady after that.  

Knee or toe, Haru's injury in Day 9 is troubling, at least for fans like me, especially since he was looking so good thus far in the 2017 Summer basho.  The healthy Takayasu is now very much in contention.  If Haru and Haku are on even ground with their respective injuries, Haru may just get some help from stablemate, Terunofuji.  But Takayasu will be counting on help from stablemate Kise, rather than the other way around.  It will be very interesting to see how the next six days shape up.

[Katooshu 3,132]

I'm very impressed by the skills Kiribayama is showing in makushita. He could be a handful in the sekitori ranks if he fills that frame out....

Edited May 22, 2017 by Katooshu

[Rocks 1,807]

59 minutes ago, Benihana said:

Video link, or it didn't happen! 

Ask and you shall receive. I only wish it was the NHK feed so you could see Satoyama's face close up. It's was brutal:

 

[Katooshu 3,132]

Satoyama bouts (his wins at least) rarely disappoint. He deserves all the applause he gets..

[Adil 232]

1 hour ago, Benihana said:

Video link, or it didn't happen! 

The entire day 9 juryo broadcast. Satoyama's match starts at 15:50.

[Ack! 433]

Goeido must beat all of his non-yokozuna opponents to retain his rank, or else defeat a yokozuna.  He has yet to face S1e Tamawashi.  Mitakeumi may catch a break and not face Harumafuji, which would be helpful for retaining his rank.  Yoshikaze has run the gauntlet with a winning record and has only lower ranked opponents remaining, so he is likely to remain in the sanyaku, and perhaps even gain a promotion if a sekiwake spot is available.  Shodai has the advantage for moving up to sanyaku.

Edited May 22, 2017 by Ack!

[Asashosakari 18,786]

26 minutes ago, Ack! said:

Mitakeumi may catch a break and not face Harumafuji, which would be helpful for retaining his rank.

Doubtful; there's space for it on either Day 11 or 12. (The corresponding slot is for Harumafuji-Takayasu.) The only intra-sanyaku match I can see getting scrapped this basho is Mitakeumi-Kotoshogiku.

[Ryoshishokunin 261]

Takagenji again failed to even vaguely bow, or even wait, for Satoyama at the beginning of the pre-bout ritual.  Nerves?  Bad coaching from Takanohana? Weird.

[specialweek 2 136]

3 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Satoyama bouts (his wins at least) rarely disappoint. He deserves all the applause he gets..

And Takagenji continues his poor dohyo etiquette in not bowing again pre bout. Where the heck is Takanohana?