This IS the July 2020 Basho thread!! Spoilers!!

[Ichimawashi 573]

Salty Terutsuyoshi in the final match against Asanoyama tomorrow!

[Seiyashi 3,326]

2 minutes ago, Ichimawashi said:

Salty Terutsuyoshi in the final match against Asanoyama tomorrow!

And Terunofuji gets Shodai. Not the best of options because either Shodai's ozeki hopes or Terunofuji's yusho chances get dented, unless of course Terunofuji beats Asanoyama today.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Seiyashi

[Soichiro 0]

A 3-way playoff with Shodai would bring some excitement back to this tournament still, I hope Asanoyama wins today.

[Akinomaki 34,306]

Instead of the yokozuna dohyo-iri now, not after

On 30/07/2020 at 16:44, Akinomaki said:

These new 5 kensho banners from the Metropolitan Government may be shown in full on NHK, at least once: Stop Corona

"Go to shops with stickers (that show it follows the guidelines)", "Wash your hands, use a mask", "No! to the 3mitsu", "Keep distance", "to not get infected, and not infect others"

On the last 3 days they will parade 3 times each: after the juryo dohyo-iri, after the yokozuna dohyo-iri and in the break between 1st and 2nd half of makuuchi: Tokyo pays no kensho money, it is a campaign in cooperation with the NSK. http://www.nikkansports.com/battle/sumo/news/202007300000590.html

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by Akinomaki

[Eikokurai 3,413]

I’m intrigued to see how the Hakuho withdrawal affects Asanoyama mentally. Terunofuji has nothing to lose really – from his rank he was never expected to be in contention – whereas Asanoyama has to now carry the weight of expectation. That’s very different from carrying people’s hopes. With Hakuho there, the Yokozuna was the favourite and Asanoyama played the role of potential upsetter. People wanted him to win, but probably never fully expected him to. Now he’s in Hakuho’s position and the presumptive yusho winner. Sure, it’s an ex-Ozeki he’s against which alters the dynamic a little, but he’s still seen as the winner-elect. Some have suggested winning a Yokozuna-less basho is somehow easier, but psychologically it may be a greater challenge being the man to beat. Arguably, showing he can play that role will prove his Yokozuna credentials better than beating Hakuho might have done. As a Yokozuna he’d have to be that guy every tournament.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eikokurai

[Seiyashi 3,326]

Tochinoshin looks way more relieved now than I've ever seen him as an Ozeki. Must be hard to be so long without a KK.

8 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

I’m intrigued to see how the Hakuho withdrawal affects Asanoyama mentally. Terunofuji has nothing to lose really – from his rank he was never expected to be in contention – whereas Asanoyama has to now carry the weight of expectation. That’s very different from carrying people’s hopes. With Hakuho there, the Yokozuna was the favourite and Asanoyama played the role of potential upsetter. Now he’s in Hakuho’s position and the presumptive yusho winner. Sure, it’s an ex-Ozeki he’s against which alters the dynamic a little, but he’s still seen as the winner-elect. Some have suggested winning a Yokozuna-less basho is somehow easier, but psychologically it may be a greater challenge being the man to beat. Arguably, showing he can play that role will prove his Yokozuna credentials better than beating Hakuho might have done.

I think, given that he knew before Hakuho's withdrawal that he was already fighting Terunofuji, and Hakuho had already fallen one off the pace, there won't be enough time in the basho for that to set in enough to damage his chances. It would have been a different matter if Hakuho had withdrawn early and everyone was now looking at Asanoyama, but now the buzz around the Asanoyama v Terunofuji bout will hide some of that expectation. Of course Asanoyama's fight card is now a lot easier, but I doubt he thinks that "Hakuho's out of the picture, I can relax"; he's shown himself to be mentally strong enough to avoid choking, and he's already won a yusho before so there won't be first time nerves.

If he wins this basho though, next basho's a whole different story. He did trip up setting a new Ozeki win record, no thanks to Mitakeumi, so it's an open question whether he will choke at getting promoted to Yokozuna in the fastest possible time especially with two whole months to get hopes up.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Seiyashi

[Eikokurai 3,413]

Kotoshoho finally crosses the kachikoshi line at the fourth attempt. Good for him. Takayasu gets his KK too, which I like because he faces Nishikigi tomorrow who is fighting back against the threat of Juryo demotion and I didn’t want to see a still-KK hunting Takayasu send him to his eighth defeat. That could still happen of course but Takayasu might be less motivated now he’s safe himself.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eikokurai

[specialweek 2 134]

1 hour ago, Ichimawashi said:

Salty Terutsuyoshi in the final match against Asanoyama tomorrow!

Any thoughts as to why they chose this match up jumping by both M6 opponents?

[Kaninoyama 1,261]

Shohozan adds insult to injury  by henka-ing poor winless Onosho. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Kaninoyama

[yohcun 364]

Shohozan was wise to pull that out at a basho where he won't hear the crowd.

[robnplunder 944]

22 minutes ago, specialweek 2 said:

Any thoughts as to why they chose this match up jumping by both M6 opponents?

To give Asanoyama a better chance at the yusho?  

[Eikokurai 3,413]

For all the talk about whether both Shodai and Mitakeumi are launching Ozeki runs, how about Daieisho? 9-4 at Komusubi right now. Sets him up nicely. He might suffer from a lack of Sekiwake slots though, unless the Kyokai decide to open a third one for him if his record merits it. Probably not this time but if he gets double-digits here and next time it will be hard to ignore.

Enho tomorrow. Very winnable indeed.

 

Ah ... just realized he had two fusen wins. That doesn’t help.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eikokurai

[Seiyashi 3,326]

Daieisho may yet force a slot if he can win out; the requirements are 11 wins at komusubi, and it seems the NSK is not too picky about fusen wins when considering promotion.

Now, if Mitakeumi really wants to prove his chops, he'll do it by beating Terunofuji on senshuraku...

[robnplunder 944]

Terunofuji is in the driver's seat to repeat the Tokushoyru's feat.    I am not surprised.  He looked good throughout the basho.

[Kaninoyama 1,261]

Wow, Terunofuji is a win and an Asanoyama loss tomorrow from a yusho. What a story that would be.

Shodai won't be a pushover, however. 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Kaninoyama

[Eikokurai 3,413]

Well, he was the Next Yokozuna for a reason.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eikokurai

[Adil 230]

What are the odds of two maegashira 17 yusho in one calendar year?

[Kaninoyama 1,261]

1 minute ago, Adil said:

What are the odds of two maegashira 17 yusho in one calendar year?

About the same as winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning in the same year.

[Karasukurai 147]

What a story Terunofuji's comeback is becoming. I want him to win this now. Brilliant.

[Seiyashi 3,326]

8 minutes ago, Adil said:

What are the odds of two maegashira 17 yusho in one calendar year?

Interesting question - looking back at the other three makujiri yushos so far, only Tokushoryu has not ever made sanyaku. Dewaminato, Takatoriki, and - if he wins it, Terunofuji - all reached and stayed in at least sekiwake for some bashos. And all three of them made sanyaku before their makujiri yusho, so they were sort of known quantities, and fell in the rankings because of injury or something. You could argue as anomalous as a makujiri yusho is, it's not surprising if you consider maybe that the winners were underranked relative to their true fighting strength.

The true anomaly is Tokushoryu's yusho, because no one saw it coming and no one expected him to have it in him to get a yusho, and he got absolutely dumpstered in the joi in March. He's showing a bit better results in the lower single-digit maegashira ranks now, but I don't think anyone is seriously going to argue that so far, Tokushoryu's showed sanyaku-level sumo.

[Amamaniac 1,970]

49 minutes ago, Kaninoyama said:

Shohozan adds insult to injury  by henka-ing poor winless Onosho. 

Onosho already broke his record for worst Top Division Tournament win-loss record yesterday.  Today, the bleeding continued.

Not sure how many times, if ever, there has been a case of 0-15 finish in the Top Division with no kyujo involved.  At this stage, I am eager to see if that will happen just from the viewpoint that I have never been witness to that.  Then again, I feel sorry for Onosho, who must be frustrated as all get out.  

Tomorrow, he goes up against Ikioi, who is also struggling at 2:11.  If I didn't know any better, it looks as though Ikioi's cellulitis is acting up again.  At his rank 9W, and depending on the promotions from Juryo, I fear that he is in danger of dropping back down to the Second Division.  So both men have things on the line in tomorrow's bout.

Can't believe I have my eyes focused on that bout when there is so much more exciting stuff going on elsewhere in the Top Division!!!

[Eikokurai 3,413]

8 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Onosho already broke his record for worst Top Division Tournament win-loss record yesterday.  Today, the bleeding continued.

Not sure how many times, if ever, there has been a case of 0-15 finish in the Top Division with no kyujo involved.  At this stage, I am eager to see if that will happen just from the viewpoint that I have never been witness to that.  Then again, I feel sorry for Onosho, who must be frustrated as all get out.  

Tomorrow, he goes up against Ikioi, who is also struggling at 2:11.  If I didn't know any better, it looks as though Ikioi's cellulitis is acting up again.  At his rank 9W, and depending on the promotions from Juryo, I fear that he is in danger of dropping back down to the Second Division.  So both men have things on the line in tomorrow's bout.

Can't believe I have my eyes focused on that bout when there is so much more exciting stuff going on elsewhere in the Top Division!!!

It’s happened four times, if memory serves. Most recent was Itai in 1990 or 1991, which I love because that’s a synonym for “pain” in Japanese. It can also mean “remains (as in corpse)”. Both apt.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Eikokurai

[Seiyashi 3,326]

19 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Not sure how many times, if ever, there has been a case of 0-15 finish in the Top Division with no kyujo involved.

4 times since 1942. 3 were shortly followed by intai. Kiyonomori, who didn't retire as an immediate consequence, never returned to the top division and spent another 3 years in juryo before calling it quits. 

One of the 0-15 posters was Sadanoumi (the father of the current Sadanoumi), who also had quite a few double-digit loss shockers in his record.

Edited July 31, 2020 by Seiyashi

[Ryoshishokunin 208]

2 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

And Terunofuji gets Shodai. Not the best of options because either Shodai's ozeki hopes or Terunofuji's yusho chances get dented, unless of course Terunofuji beats Asanoyama today.

.... but that's the point!  The whole point of late-basho scheduling is to find the people that have something to fight for and match them up. 

[Eikokurai 3,413]

1 minute ago, Ryoshishokunin said:

.... but that's the point!  The whole point of late-basho scheduling is to find the people that have something to fight for and match them up. 

Hence the phrase “Darwin match” exists. 7-7 match ups are common on senshuraku.