September (Aki) Basho- offical thread (yay..)

[robnplunder 974]

6 hours ago, since_94 said:

It used to bother me as cocky showboating until I heard the story behind it. Apparently, the town or prefecture he hails from was badly devastated by the tsunami. Huge loss of life and property. Lots of trauma and ptsd for survivors. He does the salt routine to inspire those in his hometown and give them something thrilling to cheer them. I think any rikishi who know motive this could get behind it. There’s also a history of guys who threw big salt, like Mitoizumi 

And all this time, I thought Terutsuyoshi's relatives own a salt mine.  On the opposite side, Ura throws a pinch.

The big match today is Tobizaru vs Onosho, both at 8-2.   I am throwing my support to the monkey man.  

[Seiyashi 4,068]

3 minutes ago, robnplunder said:

6 hours ago, since_94 said:

It used to bother me as cocky showboating until I heard the story behind it. Apparently, the town or prefecture he hails from was badly devastated by the tsunami. Huge loss of life and property. Lots of trauma and ptsd for survivors. He does the salt routine to inspire those in his hometown and give them something thrilling to cheer them. I think any rikishi who know motive this could get behind it. There’s also a history of guys who threw big salt, like Mitoizumi 

And all this time, I thought Terutsuyoshi's relatives own a salt mine.  On the opposite side, Ura throws a pinch.

Back when jungyo were still a thing, Hakuho would indulge in monster salt throws on occasion as well. If one does it to excite fans, I see nothing wrong with it; except maybe where more than one person decides to do it and waste salt. 

On the flip side, there's also cases where people have thrown too much salt and slipped on the resulting pile. The closest that's happened in recent memory was Shodai v Myogiryu this tournament.

[Morning 73]

Add to it that we are not only lacking two yokozuna but there's also a few fusensho for Asanoyama in that number.

[hakutorizakura 581]

The two rikishi Asanoyama got fusensho from were last seen fighting Takakeisho. Coincidence? 

[Amamaniac 2,078]

51 minutes ago, hakutorizakura said:

The two rikishi Asanoyama got fusensho from were last seen fighting Takakeisho. Coincidence? 

Cue music: "He came in like a wrecking ball ..."

[RabidJohn 1,628]

A 12-3J is not a yusho equivalent like Kakuryu's 14-1D. 14-1 was the joint winning score for that honbasho; i.e. the only part that counts for ranking purposes. The play-off was purely to decide the yusho; i.e. who got the trophies. Another 12-3J here won't put Asanoyama on a run just yet.

However, if Asanoyama somehow ends up with a 12-3D, then a yusho in November would probably get him the rope.

I'll be amazed if he manages 12-3 this time.

---

Forgot to say anything about it earlier, but what about Takanosho? Great domination of Terunofuji today. He's benefitting from having Takakeisho as a sparring partner, I believe, and heading for sanyaku.

[Amamaniac 2,078]

2 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

The invasion of the short guys continues, and I think we're getting used to it. You've got to be Enho sized to get talked about now! 

Actually, Enho isn't the subject of much talk on the Forum today.  Let me try to rectify that situation.

The news isn't good.  He lost to a struggling 1-8 Shohozan today, and walked away with his 8th loss and an MK.  This will be his third makekoshi finish in a row, something which I am sure neither he nor Hakuho is happy about.

At this rate, Enho could even end up tying Onosho's 2-13 record from July.  The only good take away from that would be the possibility of coming back and being a yusho contender in November, like Onosho this tournament. 

[Reonito 1,295]

7 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

At this rate, Enho could even end up tying Onosho's 2-13 record from July.  The only good take away from that would be the possibility of coming back and being a yusho contender in November, like Onosho this tournament. 

If he goes 2-13, he'll in all likelihood be contending for the Juryo yusho in November 

[Seiyashi 4,068]

11 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Actually, Enho isn't the subject of much talk on the Forum today.  Let me try to rectify that situation.

The news isn't good.  He lost to a struggling 1-8 Shohozan today, and walked away with his 8th loss and an MK.  This will be his third makekoshi finish in a row, something which I am sure neither he nor Hakuho is happy about.

At this rate, Enho could even end up tying Onosho's 2-13 record from July.  The only good take away from that would be the possibility of coming back and being a yusho contender in November, like Onosho this tournament. 

It's two months a bit early, but I tip Enho to beat Hakuho in a playoff in November. Hakuho, crying with happiness at the success of his deshi, retires on the spot.

[Jakusotsu 5,721]

36 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Cue music: "He came in like a wrecking ball ..."

Takakeisho <> Miley Cyrus - thanks for frying my imagination!

[Amamaniac 2,078]

1 hour ago, Jakusotsu said:

Takakeisho <> Miley Cyrus - thanks for frying my imagination!

I guess what fried your imagination was the fact that both entertainers essentially appeared in their underwear. LOL

You're welcome. 

[Kaminariyuki 497]

On 21/09/2020 at 03:14, Eikokurai said:

There’s nothing comfortable about sitting cross-legged without back support for any length of time, especially for men of a certain age. If I was a shimpan, I’d call mono-ii all the time just to stretch my legs.

Me too. I can barely stay n that position long enough to eat a fabulous Japanese dinner.

OK, I guess we're straying away from the basho a bit here...

I think Asanoyama still has a shot at this yusho. Looks like a very interesting finish. We may see our first makuuchi payoff in a while.

[Kaminariyuki 497]

1 hour ago, Amamaniac said:

Actually, Enho isn't the subject of much talk on the Forum today.  Let me try to rectify that situation.

The news isn't good.  He lost to a struggling 1-8 Shohozan today, and walked away with his 8th loss and an MK.  This will be his third makekoshi finish in a row, something which I am sure neither he nor Hakuho is happy about.

At this rate, Enho could even end up tying Onosho's 2-13 record from July.  The only good take away from that would be the possibility of coming back and being a yusho contender in November, like Onosho this tournament. 

I really objected to the line that the makuuchi rikishi now had Enho figured out. Losing 7 kg during these difficult days doesn't help, but I think there may be some merit to the argument after all. Strong tachiai a bit low. Hold nothing back. Apparently Ichinoojo hadn't yet gotten the word.

That one was sweet!

Enhou ganbatte kudasai!

OK, Enhou banzai!

Edited September 22, 2020 by Kaminariyuki
forgot something...

[Yamanashi 3,669]

8 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

As juryo, do I get fast-track promotion to Makuuchi with a daily leaderboard yusho? 

This is SumoForum.  To the extent that we try to stay pure to Ozumo, you should have a five-basho back and forth between Ms10 and J13 before you start climbing to Makuuchi.  However, in reality you get promoted by posting more, so even an irritating goober like me can be a Sekiwake.  Incidentally, this post puts me one closer to Ozeki; I'm pondering my 4-shikona manifesto even as we speak ...

[Yamanashi 3,669]

11 hours ago, Morty said:

I love Terutsuyoshi's pre-match theatrical routine - a real showman. Genuine question though - does that kind of thing piss other rikishi off? 

Personally, each match I look for possible evidence that he had a slippiotoshi on his own salt shower. Heh, heh.

[Yamanashi 3,669]

8 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Plenty of purists weren’t thrilled about Asanoyama’s record I recall. 

That's funny, because many people only see an Ozeki as being "on his way to Yokozuna".  But Ozeki aren't Junior Yokzuna, Yokozuna are Senior Ozeki.  If Ozeki are defined as "guys who are in the hunt every basho, and pick up a Yusho here and there" and satisfy the "Ozeki kachi-koshi" of 10 wins, then what's the problem with Asanoyama?  Over the last 7 basho, starting at M8, he's had 6 double digit basho, one Yusho and two Jun-Yusho.  Is he going to stall at Ozeki, like Kaio and Kotooshu?  I don't know, but that's not a bad career.  I think he'll make it to Yokozuna barring injury, and I think he's being a little Kiso-esque at times, but I've got no issues with his record.

[Eikokurai 3,433]

12 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

That's funny, because many people only see an Ozeki as being "on his way to Yokozuna".  But Ozeki aren't Junior Yokzuna, Yokozuna are Senior Ozeki.  If Ozeki are defined as "guys who are in the hunt every basho, and pick up a Yusho here and there" and satisfy the "Ozeki kachi-koshi" of 10 wins, then what's the problem with Asanoyama?  Over the last 7 basho, starting at M8, he's had 6 double digit basho, one Yusho and two Jun-Yusho.  Is he going to stall at Ozeki, like Kaio and Kotooshu?  I don't know, but that's not a bad career.  I think he'll make it to Yokozuna barring injury, and I think he's being a little Kiso-esque at times, but I've got no issues with his record.

Simply that he didn’t hit the 33/45 over three basho “requirement”. That’s all I was referring to there. He was 32/45 (with some fusen included) but 42/60.

[Yamanashi 3,669]

3 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

Simply that he didn’t hit the 33/45 over three basho “requirement”. That’s all I was referring to there. He was 32/45 (with some fusen included) but 42/60.

Sorry if I seemed to blame you.  It was a general rant; you just posted the fodder.

[Eikokurai 3,433]

6 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

Sorry if I seemed to blame you.  It was a general rant; you just posted the fodder.

Ha. Don’t worry, I didn’t take it that way, I just wanted to explain.

[Benevolance 2,453]

All the good comments are already taken. 

[sahaven111 167]

Things have gotten a lot clearer, at least, more so than it was on day 5. I'd say it's much less clear than a yusho race in the Hakuho era, but not much more than one in say, the late 80s/early 90s. This changing of the guard is no less "guard-ier" than any other... Takayasu is down again! Into the mere fodder category this time. I'm not bringing Onosho or Tobizaru up because 1. They are maegashira with no reputation of even the occasional great performance what so ever, with one of them being new. they are no more likely to win the yusho than Asanoyama who's one step behind. In fact, let's move Wakatakakage down while we're at it, and Terunofuji, of course, who lost to the all but written off Takanosho (yeah, he's still all but written off) With Kiribiyama's withdraw he's out completely and Kotoshoho's loss brings him down to mere fodder. There are now 2 real tiers left.

Tier 1: Takakeisho, Shodai

Tier 2: Asanoyama, Terunofuji, Wakatakakage, Onosho, Tobizaru

Mere Fodder: Mitakeumi, Takanosho, Takarafuji, Takayasu, Kagayaki, Aoiyama, Kotoshoho

[sahaven111 167]

On another note... there is a very, very, very, veeeeery slim chance that after tomorrow the winner of Onosho/Tobizaru is the sole leader of the yusho race, followed by 6 at 8-3 and 5 at 7-4.

[Yamanashi 3,669]

6 minutes ago, sahaven111 said:

On another note... there is a very, very, very, veeeeery slim chance that after tomorrow the winner of Onosho/Tobizaru is the sole leader of the yusho race, followed by 6 at 8-3 and 5 at 7-4.

Don't post this in Ridiculous  Predictions.  We have standards over there.

[Morty 1,469]

7 hours ago, pricklypomegranate said:

Records are meant to be broken. Taiho was near his time when his record was broken. Hakuho's record will probably be beaten, but the man would cease to even be ash by then  

 

While I agree that records are meant to be broken in general I suspect a number of Hak's will join the short but extremely prestigious list of Records That Are Unbreakable in world sport. Baseball famously has it's list of unbreakable records (Cy Young's wins, Ty Cobb's batting average, Ricky Henderson's stolen bases, Joe Di Maggio's hitting streak, Pete Rose's hits, and others), in cricket nobody has come remotely close in 80 years to breaking Don Bradman's batting average of 99.6, Eddie Merckx' win average in pro cycling will never be matched, and Aleksandr Karelin's greco-roman wrestling record is basically untouchable. Hak's records are largely based on longevity, sustained excellence over more than a decade, and crucially basically staying fit over that whole time (which has arguably been the key to him setting them all). If I was a gambler (I'm not, it's a mug's game), I would bet a lot of money that the yusho record, the zensho yusho record, the longest serving Yokozuna, most tournaments as Yokozuna, and most wins as Yokozuna records, will never be bettered, under the current format. The caveat against that is if sumo gets radically reformatted to allow more basho per year or something. But unless that happens, nobody is even getting close to breaking them. Hak really is That Good.

And for the record, I also think  Futabayama's record of 69 consecutive wins is also unbreakable.

[Katsunorifuji 65]

5 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

Forgot to say anything about it earlier, but what about Takanosho? Great domination of Terunofuji today. He's benefitting from having Takakeisho as a sparring partner, I believe, and heading for sanyaku.

I’ll second this one about Takanosho. When the match started my initial reaction was why did he go head to head with Terunofuji, he has no chance! Shoulda henka’d!

Then a few seconds later he was pushing Terunofuji out of the dohyo like it was no big deal.

Another good day of sumo by my books.