March basho 2021

[hakutorizakura 643]

I feel sorry for Takayasu, but Terunofuji clearly asserted that he is the top guy in sumo right now, and possibly for the next couple years. I don't know what Japanese fans think of him now, but I imagine that he has won lots of hearts after the Giku affair and then going through the bottom levels of hell as 'punishment'. His atonement is now complete, he will be restored to his former status, and I guess many people are actually hoping that he will go even higher.

Congrats Teru!

[Tigerboy1966 1,455]

11 minutes ago, pricklypomegranate said:

It is unfortunate for Enho too. 1 or 2 more wins and he would have secured promotion over Chiyomaru. Unfortunately, I can only see 3 makuuchi spots opening up, Kotoshoho (who had a horrendous fall today, you could see it in his expression), the besieged Yutakayama and Kakuryu's retirement. I do not think that Midorifuji or Chiyotairyu will be demoted to Juryo. So it's Ishiura, Chiyomaru and Akua next basho. He fought well, but not consistently enough. 

At least he should be at J1 in May, so a simple kk should then be enough.

[Seiyashi 4,107]

7 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

What about Wakanohana. 37 wins, 1 yusho and a jun-yusho/doten.

Dear diary, today I learned a new word: "doten"

Eh, I meant purely in terms of awards. Tochinoshin IIRC also had 37 wins leading into his ozeki promotion but other than his yusho, nowhere near as storied a record. Both Tochinoshin and Wakanohana II had a bummer 10-5 middle tournament, though, so while they might have reached higher peaks Terunofuji is certainly more consistent overall.

Doten literally means "equal points", so yusho doten means "points equal to the yusho" with the implication that since he didn't win the yusho, he lost a playoff. The Japanese word for playoff, "ketteisen", surprisingly doesn't feature at all in denoting a playoff-losing rikishi.

2 minutes ago, hakutorizakura said:

I feel sorry for Takayasu, but Terunofuji clearly asserted that he is the top guy in sumo right now, and possibly for the next couple years.

Considering Takayasu beat Terunofuji on nakabi to pull ahead, Terunofuji's assertion as top dog is logically disassociate from Takayasu's own self-destruction. It's not as if Takayasu started a slide after losing to Terunofuji.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Masunofuji 36]

Full sweep of the ozeki complete. May God bless Terunofuji's knees.

[Seiyashi 4,107]

1 minute ago, Masunofuji said:

Full sweep of the ozeki complete. May God bless Terunofuji's knees.

Arguably God has already blessed them plenty! He has 5 special prizes, 2 JY, and 2 yusho in his second career, more than in his first!

Hiro Morita goofs his outro - he goes "I'm Hiromi - er, I mean, thank you to Hiromi Ogawa for the reporting,... I'm Hiro Morita..."

[pricklypomegranate 730]

9 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

At least he should be at J1 in May, so a simple kk should then be enough.

He's always on the margin. It will be difficult, especially when he faces makuuchi opponents. I hope for the best though. He demonstrated much exciting sumo.

[hakutorizakura 643]

13 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

 

Considering Takayasu beat Terunofuji on nakabi to pull ahead, Terunofuji's assertion as top dog is logically disassociate from Takayasu's own self-destruction. It's not as if Takayasu started a slide after losing to Terunofuji.

Yeah I mean in sumo in general, not bout by bout. 

[Eikokurai 3,437]

Catching up with the bouts now.

Hidenoumi was superb against Hoshoryu. My bout of the day. But who is this man and what has he done with the real Hidenoumi?

I also rather enjoyed Tobizaru taking Kaisei for a test drive and the rare okurihikiotoshi in the Kiribayama–Takarafuji bout (only the 12th appearance of that since its introduction 20-odd years ago).

Happy to see the sanyaku (bar Shodai) get kachikoshi, though it does mean Wakatakakage, Hokutofuji and Meisei will all get underpromoted for May which is a shame.

Great effort by Takakeisho, making sure he fought that bout on his own terms, more like the playoff in Nov than their regulation bout.

The final Ozeki battle was also worthy of ending a honbasho even if it was largely a dead rubber, with only Shodai’s KK on the line. I’m glad to see Asanoyama continue his double-digit streak as Ozeki. There’s no question he’s worthy of his rank in my mind.

 

[Tigerboy1966 1,455]

If you missed it, make sure you catch up with Kiribayama's win over Takarafuji, it was a "what the hell do they call that!" finish. They called it as okurihikiotoshi which doesn't really do it justice. I'm sure Yubinhaad will let us know exactly how rare that kimarite is.

It was a bit sad to see two popular veterans, Okinoumi and Takarafuji getting career-worst records. I hope they aren't in irreversible slides, but at 35 and 34 respectively it doesn't look good.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Tigerboy1966
clarify

[Eikokurai 3,437]

19 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

The Japanese word for playoff, "ketteisen", surprisingly doesn't feature at all in denoting a playoff-losing rikishi.

‘Ketteisen’ is used more generally to describe the bout that settles the yusho. It needn’t be a playoff. For example, when Hakuho and Kakuryu met on senshuraku of Haru 2020, tied on 12-2, that was a ketteisen. It literally means ‘deciding battle’.

Also, playoffs are outside the normal schedule and not officially counted in records, so it’s more in keeping with that to emphasize the doten over the ketteisen.

Edit: Just to clarify, I’m aware all official definitions refer only to the playoff system, but if you pay attention to Japanese commentators, you will often hear them apply the word to decisive bouts in general, so it seems to have a wider usage.

Edited March 29, 2021 by Eikokurai

[Eikokurai 3,437]

1 minute ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

If you missed it, make sure you catch up with Kiribayama's win over Takarafuji, it was a "what the hell do they call that!" finish. They called it as okurihikiotoshi which doesn't really do it justice. I'm sure Yubinhaad will let us know exactly how rare that kimarite is.

It was a bit sad to see two popular veterans, Okinoumi and Takarafuji getting career-worst records. I hope they aren't in irreversible slides, but at 35 and 34 respectively it doesn't look good.

See my post above. 12th instance in Makuuchi since it was introduced in the early-2000s expansion. The previous one was in Nov 2018.

http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&m=on&kimarite=82&onlyw1=on

[Swami 245]

52 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

What about Wakanohana. 37 wins, 1 yusho and a jun-yusho/doten.

Dear diary, today I learned a new word: "doten"

 

Before that Hokutenyu, 11 wins (3rd place), 12 wins (jun-yusho) and 14 wins (yusho).

 

Terunofuji's achievement is truly remarkable but I would be quite cautious in predicting the next couple of years for him, he is still fighting quite recklessly on occasion and another bad injury will probably spell the end.  Plus of his three yusho, his best record is 13-2.  He can't keep on expecting to win yusho with 12-3 indefinitely.

 

Swami

[Amamaniac 2,079]

1 hour ago, Seiyashi said:

1 hour ago, pricklypomegranate said:

It is unfortunate for Enho too. 1 or 2 more wins and he would have secured promotion over Chiyomaru. Unfortunately, I can only see 3 makuuchi spots opening up, Kotoshoho (who had a horrendous fall today, you could see it in his expression), the besieged Yutakayama and Kakuryu's retirement. I do not think that Midorifuji or Chiyotairyu will be demoted to Juryo. So it's Ishiura, Chiyomaru and Akua next basho. He fought well, but not consistently enough. 

Speaking of chokes, that's another one for the days, although it's a bit less culpable than Takayasu's considering it was in juryo and Enho has several mechanical disadvantages in his sumo.

The kotenage by Nishikifuji on day 12 resulting in an injury to Enho's left elbow didn't help things IMHO.

[Amamaniac 2,079]

Terunofuji handled himself pretty well in the NHK yusho interview.  When asked what his goal was now that he has succeeded in his Ozeki comeback, Teru said modestly: "I plan to focus on my concentration and on doing good sumo" (or something to that effect).  He could have said, "I plan to charge ahead of the other Ozeki and become the next Yokozuna!"  

The question was a bit of a setup in my opinion, but Terunofuji did not take the bait, and answered in a humble way which probably scored him big points with Japanese fans.

[Terunoshoryu 11]

Congrats to Terunofuji for his incredible come back from bottom to the top to be better than before. 
 

I guess a new Mongolian era is coming with TeruNofuji and Hoshoryu  
 

with this yusho, terunofuji will be promoted to Ozeki. Will it be also a Yokozuna run for him next basho? With another Yusho next Basho probably yes. 

[Benihana 1,936]

Just watched the stream. Highlight of the basho:

"INOSUKE DISAPPEARS FROM THE SCREEN! WHERE IS HE???" 

I'm in tears 

Congratulations to Terunofuji, well deserved.

Still unbelievable.  If his knees don't explode in the near future, he's the top contender for next Yokozuna. Asanoyama and Takakeisho have improve to their sumo A LOT, to have a chance. Shodai even isn't on my game plan.

The other pair of knees i'm worried about, is that of Ura. Without that kyujo, he'd have been at least in a playoff for the juryo yusho. But he's in striking range to makuuchi, next basho, so he's got that going for him.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Benihana

[Seiyashi 4,107]

23 minutes ago, Benihana said:

Asanoyama and Takakeisho have improve to their sumo A LOT, to have a chance. Shodai even isn't on my game plan.

Credit to them, they are on their way. Asanoyama was experimenting a lot with gonosen-no-tachiai this basho, to the extent where he looked really bad in the early half, but rallied and made it look a lot better by nakabi, and came the closest he's ever been to beating Terunofuji even after a botched morotezuki. Takakeisho damn nearly shoved Terunofuji out altogether to force a playoff, and I wouldn't discount him whenever he's healthy; it's his body more than his sumo that is a worry for him.

Edited March 28, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Gospodin 219]

2 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

...if Terunofuji does ascend to be yokozuna, Isegahama will cement his place as the best scout and coach of all time..

If I am not mistaken, Isegahama "inherited" Terunofuji from the shut down Magaki stable.

[Seiyashi 4,107]

4 minutes ago, Gospodin said:

If I am not mistaken, Isegahama "inherited" Terunofuji from the shut down Magaki stable.

Let me scratch that out, then...

[RabidJohn 1,849]

Just now, Gospodin said:

If I am not mistaken, Isegahama "inherited" Terunofuji from the shut down Magaki stable.

Aye, but Isegahama was his oyakata when he won his first yusho and got promoted to ozeki. Thems the apples wot counts.

Congratulations to Terunofuji on yusho no. 3, earning repromotion in emphatic manner.

If it were anyone else who'd come into the top division with a yusho from M17 then KK all the way up to blitzing the wins target for ozeki promotion with yet another yusho to finish, we'd all be calling him the next yokozuna.

It's all down to them knees now...

[Seiyashi 4,107]

1 minute ago, RabidJohn said:

Aye, but Isegahama was his oyakata when he won his first yusho and got promoted to ozeki. Thems the apples wot counts.

That's the action of a coach not a scout; Gospodin was rightly taking issue with my characterisation of Isegahama as the best scout. Which he's still a good one, just that he doesn't have the credit for finding Terunofuji, as it were.

[since_94 650]

2 hours ago, hakutorizakura said:

I feel sorry for Takayasu, but Terunofuji clearly asserted that he is the top guy in sumo right now, and possibly for the next couple years. I don't know what Japanese fans think of him now, but I imagine that he has won lots of hearts after the Giku affair and then going through the bottom levels of hell as 'punishment'. His atonement is now complete, he will be restored to his former status, and I guess many people are actually hoping that he will go even higher.

Congrats Teru!

I think that’s an excellent synopsis of his “hero’s quest”, like something straight out of  Joseph Campbell’s The Power of Myth. Those themes, conceit or hubris, punishment, atonement, redemption, resonate with many Japanese, I am sure, just as they do with almost anyone with a knowledge of, and appreciation for, folklore. How can you not love his story? Classic, mythological stuff playing out in our lifetime.

[ryafuji 815]

4 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Terunofuji shukunsho

Wakatakakage ginosho (conditional on win over Hokutofuji, which he just did)

Meisei kantosho (conditional on win over Tsurugisho, which he did)

Takayasu/Aoiyama kantosho (whoever wins)

Not that it really matters but I believe Wakatakakage had the ginosho win or lose today. 

[Swami 245]

3 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

God-chosen or not, if Terunofuji does ascend to be yokozuna, Isegahama will cement his place as the best scout and coach of all time, not to mention being an absolute bastion of inspiration to his own deshi. The only one he is arguably inferior to at this point is Kitanofuji, who presided over a double-yokozuna stable (but contributed very little to Chiyonofuji's ascent to yokozuna in the first place).

Hiro Morita reports that Inosuke is going to a clinic to get checked. Perhaps wise, because he is most certainly at the age where a tumble like that is considered a "fall"!

You mean zabuton or mawashi...

Chiyonofuji only became a makunouchi regular after Kitanofuji became Kokonoe Oyakata, Chiyonoyana did recruit Chiyonofuji but Kitanofuji arguably had more contribution to Chiyonofuji’s rise.

Isegahama as a coach - surely the whole Harumafuji debacle hasn’t been forgotten?  In the debate about great coaches he falls along way short of Kitanofuji or Wakanohana I.

 

Swami

[Jakusotsu 6,037]

30 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

37 minutes ago, Gospodin said:

If I am not mistaken, Isegahama "inherited" Terunofuji from the shut down Magaki stable.

Aye, but Isegahama was his oyakata when he won his first yusho and got promoted to ozeki. Thems the apples wot counts.

...and Wakamisho didn't really benefit of Magaki's lack of coaching. (see John Gunning's several articles on that topic)