Natsu basho 2021

[Shinobi Steve 146]

In juryo, it really looked like the Tohakuryu vs Chiyonoo should have been a torinaoshi. For anyone who watched live, did the shimpan say that Tohakuryu's heel touched down first? I watched the replays over and over and it looks like it could have been doubtful. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Shinobi Steve

[Seiyashi 4,071]

43 minutes ago, Swami said:

Perhaps if Terunofuji went zensho in July, he might have a chance.

Or if he beats a relatively genki Hakuho. Hakuho is really the last frontier as far as on-dohyo performance goes. If Terunofuji wins out here, and beats Hakuho and lifts the cup next basho with at least a 13-2, he's golden. If they need even more of an excuse to beat a 14-1Y 13-2Y with a yokozuna scalp, they're never going to get it.

46 minutes ago, Swami said:

Takakeisho needs to badly work on his yotsu-zumo if there is any chance of him making yokozuna, if his pushing attacks fail he has nothing to fall back on. The likes of Hokutoumi and Akebono developed sufficient yotsu-zumo, so far I haven't seen much sign of Takakeisho doing likewise.  

He might have been scared off after a near-mortal encounter with Mitakeumi about two years ago which led to his pectoral injury. He tried yotsu there, and for someone who hasn't shown any competency with it, managed to win by sukuinage, but injured himself in the process, and the playoff with Mitakeumi only made things worse. I wonder whether there's something in it that oshi and yotsu wrestlers have different muscular builds and his trying yotsu with the "wrong build" was what led to injury.

[Swami 245]

1 minute ago, Seiyashi said:

Or if he beats a relatively genki Hakuho. Hakuho is really the last frontier as far as on-dohyo performance goes. If Terunofuji wins out here, and beats Hakuho and lifts the cup next basho with at least a 13-2, he's golden. If they need even more of an excuse to beat a 14-1Y 13-2Y with a yokozuna scalp, they're never going to get it.

He might have been scared off after a near-mortal encounter with Mitakeumi about two years ago which led to his pectoral injury. He tried yotsu there, and for someone who hasn't shown any competency with it, managed to win by sukuinage, but injured himself in the process, and the playoff with Mitakeumi only made things worse. I wonder whether there's something in it that oshi and yotsu wrestlers have different muscular builds and his trying yotsu with the "wrong build" was what led to injury.

I still think he's too short, and remains prone to slap-downs.  Akinoshima though was short and was very much a yotsu-zumo man, although in many ways his greatest flaw was his tendency to lose to guys much lower-ranked, having done all the hard work by beating so many top-rankers.  

Swami

[Shinobi Steve 146]

Random thought of the day....Maybe Tobizaru's flight into the crowd after every match is deliberate? Sudden stops are not great for your knees and being a 130kg man would certainly add the knee stress. Maybe the post bout flight is deliberate attempt to save wear and tear on his knees. At any rate, good job today Flying Monkey. 

[Kintamayama 44,346]

1 hour ago, Swami said:

Takakeisho needs to badly work on his yotsu-zumo if there is any chance of him making yokozuna, if his pushing attacks fail he has nothing to fall back on. The likes of Hokutoumi and Akebono developed sufficient yotsu-zumo, so far I haven't seen much sign of Takakeisho doing likewise.  

In terms of promotion for Terunofuji, bearing in mind this is first basho back as ozeki, I can't see him being considered for promotion until September (if you consider the three-basho totals).  Then again, Terunofuji's situation is truly unique.  Futabayama and Terukuni were the only rikishi to be promoted to yokozuna after only two basho as ozeki.

Perhaps if Terunofuji went zensho in July, he might have a chance.

 

Swami

Two consecutive yushos, even 12-3s, will see him promoted. Even a 12-3 jun-yusho next basho will cut it if he gets the yusho this time. If this basho will be a 14-1 yusho, who knows how low the bar will be dropped. 

Edited May 21, 2021 by Kintamayama

[hakutorizakura 590]

WKTKKG! Finally sanyaku-bound, after that 'undefeated' makuuchi debut basho.

[dada78641 884]

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't promote Terunofuji after a second Ozeki yusho if it happens next basho. Granted, that is if he wins this one, which still isn't certain, although it's certainly his to lose. He's already been an Ozeki before, and like I mentioned before that would mean his last 5 basho are jun-yusho, jun-yusho, yusho, yusho, yusho. I'll bet you €10,000 that's sufficient for promotion.

Bonus image:

Tobizaru and Tochinoshin after seeing someone who owes them money in the audience.

[Seiyashi 4,071]

7 minutes ago, dada78641 said:

Tobizaru and Tochinoshin after seeing someone who owes them money in the audience.

Tobizaru: Hey mister, listen, about that Y100,000 we lent you last week? Yeah, between you and me, we're chill, y'know. Keep it for a bit more. But my friend over there, he's had a bad basho. And he really wants drinks after this bout. And a spare set of knees. So if you wanna hang on to your knees I suggest you pony up. And while you're at it, maybe a meal at a barbecue joint wouldn't be too bad either.

Tochinoshin: :makes grunting noises in the back:

7 minutes ago, dada78641 said:

I'll bet you €10,000 that's sufficient for promotion.

You may or may not want to enter into bets with the SF crowd. I hear there's a number of uneaten hats hanging around somewhere...

Edited May 21, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Rocks 1,807]

4 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

And Shodai makes it to 8 with two days to spare thanks to his friendly schedule. Well done I guess on pulling it out of the bag. At 5-5 I thought he was a goner.

Comical thing is if he beats Takakeisho on Day 14, possible given Yusho race is basically over,  it's possible  Shodai will tie Takakeisho with 10 wins in the end. 

[Hakuryuho 334]

15 minutes ago, dada78641 said:

 

Bonus image:

Tobizaru and Tochinoshin after seeing someone who owes them money in the audience.

It looks like two school boys running away from the teacher (gyoji) to not get any additional homework 

[Amamaniac 2,078]

1 hour ago, Shinobi Steve said:

In juryo, it really looked like the Tohakuryu vs Chiyonoo should have been a torinaoshi. For anyone who watched live, did the shimpan say that Tohakuryu's heel touched down first? I watched the replays over and over and it looks like it could have been doubtful.

The verdict was that Tohakuryu had left the ground (literally "flying") and was out of the ring first.  

For me, the interesting thing about that verdict announcement by Isegahama was that he didn't say those dreaded words: "gumbai sashichigae" decision overturned.

I sincerely doubt that it had any bearing on the verdict, but Chiyonoo was (and still is) the frontrunner down in Juryo (so he ended up preserving his one-win lead), and Tohakuryu had the misfortune of crashing into the chief judge after he went down off the ring.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Amamaniac

[Amamaniac 2,078]

43 minutes ago, dada78641 said:

Tobizaru and Tochinoshin after seeing someone who owes them money in the audience.

Tobizaru isn't called the "Flying Monkey" for nothing!  He runs off the ring whether he wins or he loses.  The rarer photo would be of him on the ring immediately after one of his bouts! 

[bessantj 4]

Quick question about a lower division wrestler. Ishizaki entered the rankings at sd100. He's 22 so does that suggest that he won some tournament or did well enough in university sumo to grant him entry to higher division rather than the usual Jonokuchi ranking?

[lackmaker 431]

49 minutes ago, Rocks said:

Comical thing is if he beats Takakeisho on Day 14, possible given Yusho race is basically over,  it's possible  Shodai will tie Takakeisho with 10 wins in the end. 

It shows why being in the yusho race carries more weight than taking bouts later on.

[WAKATAKE 2,631]

Not to worry, Endo still has a chance to impact the race since he’s facing the Kaiju!

[Yamanashi 3,723]

3 hours ago, Swami said:

Takakeisho needs to badly work on his yotsu-zumo if there is any chance of him making yokozuna, if his pushing attacks fail he has nothing to fall back on. The likes of Hokutoumi and Akebono developed sufficient yotsu-zumo, so far I haven't seen much sign of Takakeisho doing likewise. 

IMHO, Takakeisho seems to have a structural problem: he's a small, very fat guy with short arms.  Since his own arms don't extend very far past his own belly, he would have to became a mai-mitsu specialist to get any kind of mawashi grip at all.

[Yamanashi 3,723]

1 hour ago, dada78641 said:

Tobizaru and Tochinoshin after seeing someone who owes them money in the audience.

"Are you kidding me?  Who wears contacts while wrestling??"

[Katooshu 3,132]

1 hour ago, bessantj said:

Quick question about a lower division wrestler. Ishizaki entered the rankings at sd100. He's 22 so does that suggest that he won some tournament or did well enough in university sumo to grant him entry to higher division rather than the usual Jonokuchi ranking?

Yes, he was a collegiate wrestler at Nippon Sports Science University, and earned the sandamne debut by making the semifinals of the National University Championship. He lost in the semifinals to fellow sandamne starter Nishikawa, who then lost in the finals to Naruto's yet to debut foreigner Delgerbayar (who will start at Ms15TD).

Edited May 21, 2021 by Katooshu

[Asashosakari 18,783]

4 hours ago, Swami said:

In terms of promotion for Terunofuji, bearing in mind this is first basho back as ozeki, I can't see him being considered for promotion until September (if you consider the three-basho totals).  Then again, Terunofuji's situation is truly unique.  Futabayama and Terukuni were the only rikishi to be promoted to yokozuna after only two basho as ozeki.

Perhaps if Terunofuji went zensho in July, he might have a chance.

Three-basho totals haven't been particularly relevant to yokozuna promotions in decades. Your posts really do make me wonder frequently if you intentionally decided to stop learning anything about sumo after the 1980s ended.

[rhyen 1,808]

looking at social media, it seems like the flying tadpole has become the latest sumo meme trend.

[Kurowashi 42]

Great to see that Kyokutaiseis mawashi change has worked today as well, getting his kk.

Also nice to see that Nishikigi finally got a kk after 6 straight mk and 11 ! mk in 12 basho. I wonder if he retires when dropping to makushita, which could very likely happen later this year, he seems vary lacklustre and loosing his salary won‘t be a great motivation too ;)

[RabidJohn 1,663]

6 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Tobizaru is finishing the basho strong, winning three in a row after that horrendous streak of eight losses, but seriously, he needs to learn how to brake. He’s the reason the Kyokai don’t let rikishi drive.

I just assumed he'd been lumbered with the audience incursion job now Kotoyuki's retired.
Someone's got to do it - tradition, ain't it?

[Swami 245]

43 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

Three-basho totals haven't been particularly relevant to yokozuna promotions in decades. Your posts really do make me wonder frequently if you intentionally decided to stop learning anything about sumo after the 1980s ended.

I agree the three-basho totals is far from being the be-all and end-all. After all Wakanohana II and Onokuni both scored 40 wins over the three basho and didn't exactly have stellar careers. Plus the case of Wakanohana III highlights another point.  Winning back-to-back yusho to get promoted doesn't guarantee a successful stay as yokozuna even though that has been the de facto criteria for promtion since Futahaguro's exit. But from the point of view of gauging consistent performance, surely a three-basho spell is a better barometer, wouldn't you say, rather than just two?

I don't think my comment merited that response but whatever.

 

Swami

 

 

[Katooshu 3,132]

 

 

[Gooner 39]

1 hour ago, Katooshu said:

Yes, he was a collegiate wrestler at Nippon Sports Science University, and earned the sandamne debut by making the semifinals of the National University Championship. He lost in the semifinals to fellow sandamne starter Nishikawa, who then lost in the finals to Naruto's yet to debut foreigner Delgerbayar (who will start at Ms15TD).

Do you know when he will start in Ozumo? Another Mongolian giant?

Edited May 21, 2021 by Gooner