Kyushu Basho 2018 Discussion [SPOILERS]

[Eikokurai 3,433]

Poor old Miyagino. Hakuho is out so he had to return the Emperor’s Cup and almost dropped the thing off the dohyo.

Remarkably that’s only the second time in his 41-yusho career Hakuho hasn’t been able to hand the trophy back. 

Edited November 11, 2018 by Eikokurai

[Rocks 1,807]

Please tell me someone got a copy of that silly belly rubbing dance they showed Kisenosato doing. @Kintamayama

Edited November 14, 2018 by Jakusotsu

[yutarotanaka 104]

Yago making a statement that he probably should be in the top division spot where Chiyomaru is after deafeating the round one in today's first makuunuchi match of Day 1.

[Jabbamaru 166]

Yaaay, sumo time!

finally some joy in these sad moment...damn...Yago looks like a freaking moai.

[Sakura 1,472]

Surely Yago's hair should be long enough for the proper mage by now.

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Naya and Ura get day 1 wins

[Eikokurai 3,433]

31 minutes ago, Rocks said:

Please tell me someone got a copy of that silly belly rubbing dance they showed Kisenosato doing. @Kintamayama

Just a mental copy, though it will stay in the memory for a while. It was weird.

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Aminishiki gets 1st win after turning 40

[Eikokurai 3,433]

Mitaekeumi took his Ozeki run out of the ring. Not a great start.

Poor from Tochinoshin too. He was never in it.

Takayasu looked solid. His kachiage didn’t quite have its usual impact but he had a plan B.

Goiedo wins on day one? 

Strange bout between Kise and Taka. Kise seemed to be unrattled, if not in control, but then just went down.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Eikokurai

[Jabbamaru 166]

Where is the zabutons????

[Eikokurai 3,433]

5 minutes ago, Jabbamaru said:

Where is the zabutons????

Aren’t they nailed down in Kyushu? Besides, it wasn’t a kinboshi job. Taka is komusubi.

[Joaoiyama 306]

Kise slipped while he was trying to slap, it got sloppy and he flopped. 

[Shio-kago 180]

I joked a little, last basho, at the expense of the people who keep insisting that the other guys will soon be "figuring out" Takakeisho.  Now, in all seriousness, I'm taking the position that it's not gonna happen.

My reason for thinking so is that, I'm pretty sure now, Takakeisho is the guy who figures you out. His ability to get into, and then manipulate, his opponents rhythm and distance is exceptionally good. It looked to me like that was Kisenosato's exact strategy in their match tonight, and he got beaten at the game.

I am very impressed. I still can't see Takakeisho as an Ozeki; wrong body, I think. But he is a very talented and resourceful Rikishi. Great work tonight.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Shio-kago

[Pandaazuma 1,310]

One of the best opening days I remember. Some brilliant bouts. Almost no henka...just a couple from the usual suspects down in Juryo. Let's keep this up!

[Akōgyokuseki 227]

Takakeisho seemed most talkative in his post bout interview, in fact it was the most talkative I've ever seen him! A deserved victory for him, Kisenosato looked very angry with himself on the way down the hanamichi.

Mitakeumi looks spent! No energy at all! Poor lad...

Excellent opening day, plenty of excitement and it's great just watching a basho where I don't have to bite my nails off, thanks to Kakuryu's kyujo

[Kintamayama 44,354]

3 hours ago, Rocks said:

Please tell me someone got a copy of that silly belly rubbing dance they showed Kisenosato doing. @Kintamayama

What belly rubbing dance?

[YoungSumo 93]

This is definitely going to be an interesting basho. With Hakuho and Kakuryu not there and multiple top guys already looking shaky this could go a lot of ways. Right now I'd say the favorite is Takayasu but its difficult to say after one day.

[mikawa 1,794]

Takakeisho does what he always does, moving aroung the ring, looking for opportunities. It's already shaping up to be an exciting basho!

[Eikokurai 3,433]

1 hour ago, Kintamayama said:

What belly rubbing dance?

On Abema they showed a clip from the recent jungyo of Kisenosato doing some odd belly stretching warm-up.

[Valdenor 3]

The Tochinoshin's loss was result of good pushing sumo by Tamawashi. What a powerful push was the first one by Tamawashi after the tachiai! It dragged Tochi a few precious meters.

Edited November 11, 2018 by Valdenor

[Rocks 1,807]

Strange night. A lot of rust all around. Tough loss for Kisenosato as he looked strong until the end. I definitely expect him to be in the yusho race till the end. Unless Goeido or Takayasu runs away with this I expect the end of this is going to be messy. Takakiesho is just ridiculously strong for his size. The way he keeps bigger guys off him for so long and still has enough in the tank to get the win when his chance appears is pretty amazing.

[Philioyamfugi 378]

Takakeisho  is just fun to watch, looked like Kise was handling him, tough loss. Most my guys wining, Toyonoshima , Ura , Diamami , Kagayaki , yoshikaze and Kotoshugiku(both knees bandaged up). Too bad Kiase is out. Glad sumo is back looking forward to a tight race. 

[Kawabata 270]

4 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

On Abema they showed a clip from the recent jungyo of Kisenosato doing some odd belly stretching warm-up.

the kise twerk? There's a few clips of it in this thread

 

[Tiger Tanaka 222]

Thrilled sumo is back and this is a special basho for me. First time watching live since my visit to Tokyo last May because I have a new son and am up at odd hours of the night now!

Mitakeumi tends to have 1 or 2 of these losses per basho against opponents he is soundly better than. Of course the opponent has a say in the matter, and in this case Tochiozan came with a good game plan to stall and counterattack Mita's neck thrusts. A good Ozeki should handle these opponents at a high clip with losses being rare. Mita is gaining and the question is can he get to that next level of consistency or plateau at the S/K slots. My opinion is that it will be a matter of time before he is an Ozeki.

He is still only 3.5 years removed from his sumo debut and has been a Sanyaku regular for nearly 2 of those years. With a meteoric rise the tendency of public opinion is to question the potential after a quick rise hits a temporary plateau. The only way I see him not making it is if there is a new young crop Y/O hopefuls that develop quickly and become rival barriers to his quest.

Hope Tochi is okay. He offered little resistence to Tamawashi and I hope it's because he focused too much on getting a mawashi grip instead of stifling the initial momentum of Tom Belt. But I fear it might be the accumulating injuries.

[Amamaniac 2,078]

One might say that the Kyushu Tournament started with a bang.  The biggest of those bangs was when Kisenosato, the sole Yokozuna, fell onto the dohyo in his bout against Takakeisho.  I was actually worried that he might lose.  Takakeisho is no pushover, and given his height (or lack thereof), his strength, and his feistiness, he is a handful for other wrestlers.  What I really noticed in that bout was that Takakeisho's thrusts were straight and direct, whereas Kisenosato was counter thrusting from around the outside – in a word his thrusts were far less effective.  

Despite switching stable masters since September, Takakeisho may just surprise everyone this tournament, and dare I say, ... win the championship.  At this point, that contention is not altogether farfetched.  And, if he were to win, it would be a sweet and silent victory for Hanada Koji (a.k.a. Takanohana)!  

Since both Tochinoshin and Mitakeumi lost their bouts on Day 1, I will definitely be watching Takakeisho very closely for the next few days to see if he is able to keep winning against sanyaku opponents.  He fights Goeido next, and I'd say he has a chance to win.  Goeido has professed his desire to win the championship this time out, but he may find Takakeisho too much to handle.

I'm just grasping at straws at this stage, but with Hakuho and Kakuryu out and Kisenosato, Tochinoshin, and Mitakeumi all struggling to find their mojo, this tournament seems wider open than I imagined.