Natsu basho 2021

[robnplunder 975]

23 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

Is he even capable of morozashi? 

Nope. 

 

[Tigerboy1966 1,432]

43 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

45 minutes ago, Kotogouryuu said:

53 minutes ago, Benevolance said:

In the past year, Endo has looked much more like the rikishi he was promised to be. I wonder if he'll get a proper shikona some day soon? 

Well if he makes ozeki, surely then. Before that... he's quite popular, so changing the name isn't really temping. Don't mess with the brand.

Shodai went to ozeki without changing the name either. And so did Takayasu, Dejima and Wajima in the past. I guess it helps that their names sound somewhat like shikona, so there won't actually be that much pressure to change.

Ladies and gentlemen. Introducing on the east side Immortal Jade Dragon... and on the west side... errm... Jones.

[Thorbjarn 214]

1 hour ago, Hakuryuho said:

The comment section under Jason's coverage of the Terunofuji-Endo bout is absolutely mental, 
so many people claiming that Teru won the fight and that it was clearly rigged because of the
rampant xenophobia against foreign rikishi..
 

People are weird bro

I agree. I really hope people are meming. I like the fandom around these parts, sometimes we miss each others points, which is to be expected between all the different propable language & culture barriers, but generally we are respectful to the Rikishi and each other. 

But yeah, not too high on internet fandom in general. 

[Gurowake 4,034]

Endo is a somewhat common name, and from what I understand not even necessarily the most popular athlete with the name is the rikishi.  Someone with my web history of visiting and searching for sumo-related pages is not shown anything about the rikishi from googling "Endo Japan", but I am shown stuff about at least two others (Yasuhito and Wataru, both soccer players).  There's a huge list on Wikipedia of notable people named Endo, and it indicates that the name is 38th most common.  Takayasu has 4 Wikipedia-level notable people with the surname, although there's also a medical condition named after one of them.  Shodai on Wikipedia doesn't even have a disambiguation page.  Wajima is a place name (30k people) with about 7 disambiguation selections many of which relate directly to that place, while Dejima goes directly to the foreign trading port article with only a link to the Ozeki and no disambiguation page. 

I think it's clear that Endo is quite an outlier in terms of the kind of name one keeps as a shikona.  He was going to have a shikona change when he made some major promotion, but that simply didn't happen soon enough, and now he's a brand name in sumo, being the most popular active rikishi despite not being all that great. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Gurowake

[Gurowake 4,034]

18 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

Ladies and gentlemen. Introducing on the east side Immortal Jade Dragon... and on the west side... errm... Jones.

To be fair, Jones is #2 in England.  The 30s is like Lewis, Harrison, Allen, or King.  I could see "King" being a reasonable shikona meaning, and 王 is used many shikona, like Oho, but its pronunciation as a single (long) vowel sound makes it rather unsuitable for the entire shikona (unlike Ikioi or Kagayaki).  Your point remains regardless.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Gurowake

[Gurowake 4,034]

1 hour ago, Hakuryuho said:

The comment section under Jason's coverage of the Terunofuji-Endo bout is absolutely mental, 
so many people claiming that Teru won the fight and that it was clearly rigged because of the
rampant xenophobia against foreign rikishi..
 

People are weird bro

Youtube comments are pretty well-known as a cess pool that rivals or exceeds Reddit.  Given that they are basically unmoderated, while Reddit theoretically has moderators, you get the absolute worst of people.  They can be fine for subjects where only civil people are interested in the kind of video, but with something like sumo you're going to draw the unwashed masses with no respect quite easily.

[Benevolance 2,484]

18 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

Takayasu has 4 Wikipedia-level notable people with the surname, although there's also a medical condition named after one of them. 

Please tell me it's a condition related to choking. 

[Seiyashi 4,074]

18 minutes ago, Benevolance said:

37 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

Takayasu has 4 Wikipedia-level notable people with the surname, although there's also a medical condition named after one of them. 

Please tell me it's a condition related to choking. 

It's arthritis, which is about as apropos as you can get for rikishi without being apropos.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Seiyashi
Can't read

[Seiyashi 4,074]

34 minutes ago, Thorbjarn said:

1 hour ago, Hakuryuho said:

The comment section under Jason's coverage of the Terunofuji-Endo bout is absolutely mental, 
so many people claiming that Teru won the fight and that it was clearly rigged because of the
rampant xenophobia against foreign rikishi..
 

People are weird bro

I agree. I really hope people are meming. I like the fandom around these parts, sometimes we miss each others points, which is to be expected between all the different propable language & culture barriers, but generally we are respectful to the Rikishi and each other. 

But yeah, not too high on internet fandom in general. 

Thirding that; SF is a very rare oasis compared to the crap going on outside. I don't think they're meming, though; a lot of people mean it unironically which makes it even scarier that democracy is even a thing (but )

18 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

Youtube comments are pretty well-known as a cess pool that rivals or exceeds Reddit.  Given that they are basically unmoderated, while Reddit theoretically has moderators, you get the absolute worst of people.  They can be fine for subjects where only civil people are interested in the kind of video, but with something like sumo you're going to draw the unwashed masses with no respect quite easily.

Twitter and Facebook aren't that much better. There's the racists, and then there's the people who think they're great because they call out racists and hence have a license to do or say whatever they want; but both ways they're still indulging in uncivilised behaviour not to put too fine a point on it.

Back to topic: Occam's Razor says shit happens in a basho and it's still Terunofuji's to lose.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Gurowake 4,034]

5 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

It's arthritis, which is about as apropos as you can get for rikishi without being apropos.

No, it's arteritis, inflammation of the arteries.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/takayasus-arteritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351335

[Seiyashi 4,074]

4 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

No, it's arteritis, inflammation of the arteries.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/takayasus-arteritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351335

If it's swelling (and hence blockage) of the arteries, does that count as a form of choking?

Edited May 22, 2021 by Seiyashi

[WAKATAKE 2,650]

54 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

Endo is a somewhat common name, and from what I understand not even necessarily the most popular athlete with the name is the rikishi.  Someone with my web history of visiting and searching for sumo-related pages is not shown anything about the rikishi from googling "Endo Japan", but I am shown stuff about at least two others (Yasuhito and Wataru, both soccer players).  There's a huge list on Wikipedia of notable people named Endo, and it indicates that the name is 38th most common.  Takayasu has 4 Wikipedia-level notable people with the surname, although there's also a medical condition named after one of them.  Shodai on Wikipedia doesn't even have a disambiguation page.  Wajima is a place name (30k people) with about 7 disambiguation selections many of which relate directly to that place, while Dejima goes directly to the foreign trading port article with only a link to the Ozeki and no disambiguation page. 

I think it's clear that Endo is quite an outlier in terms of the kind of name one keeps as a shikona.  He was going to have a shikona change when he made some major promotion, but that simply didn't happen soon enough, and now he's a brand name in sumo, being the most popular active rikishi despite not being all that great. 

Endo I believe is one of the top 5 family names in Japan, definitely top 10. I had a classmate and a teacher named Endo, and even someone I work with at my company is named Endo.

[Tigerboy1966 1,432]

40 minutes ago, Gurowake said:

To be fair, Jones is #2 in England.  The 30s is like Lewis, Harrison, Allen, or King.  I could see "King" being a reasonable shikona meaning, and 王 is used many shikona, like Oho, but its pronunciation as a single (long) vowel sound makes it rather unsuitable for the entire shikona (unlike Ikioi or Kagayaki).  Your point remains regardless.

As my surname is "Daley" I could have the shikona "Dairi" = "大理" = Great Logic. Anyone else want to try?

[Godango 975]

2 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Except it's not Ross. It's Hiro Morita.

Dammit, I went back and forth on that so many times before posting. 

[hakutorizakura 620]

I understand that the battle of the purple mawashis took all the attention today, but does anyone else noticed how lovingly Okinoumi and Tamawashi embraced after the latter fell off the dohyo? 

[Yamanashi 3,820]

3 hours ago, Atenzan said:

Somehow I can't see Takakeishou getting a morozashi on Terunofuji twice tomorrow. Just the way I feel.

As I explained earlier, that's the only grip he can reach.

[Amamaniac 2,079]

11 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

On 21/05/2021 at 16:15, Amamaniac said:

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! 

He did that today!

Enho decided to do the "completely unnecessary run of the ring" today.  Feeling upstaged, Tobizaru decided to make a statement, and stayed on the ring. 

P.S., Hope you got a photo.  

[Seiyashi 4,074]

8 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Enho decided to do the "completely unnecessary run of the ring" today.  Feeling upstaged, Tobizaru decided to make a statement, and stayed on the ring. 

P.S., Hope you got a photo.  

https://youtu.be/t0gYV2YbAkg?t=684

In lieu of Akinomaki's photos :)

[Highway 46]

WOW epic bout between Endo and Terunofuji, what an effort by both. Best match of Endo's career? What a terrific finish to the basho this sets up.

Terunofuji vs Takakeisho is fast becoming the sumo rivalry of this new decade. Well it already is, isn't it. Once again we have a basho decider between the two of them tomorrow. 

And the thing is...I don't necessarily have a favorite, and it will be very fun to see a three-way playoff, but you can't blame Terunofuji if he is feeling a bit hard done by...he has dominated all his opponents from beginning to end pretty much, super unlucky to have a win stripped for the hair pull, and today a 50/50 finish that was so close....it's still in his hands tomorrow, but he will be haunted by major what-ifs if it somehow slips away. 

[Amamaniac 2,079]

Just a quick word about what happened today down in Juryo:

Frontrunner Chiyonoo found himself up against relative newcomer, Ichiyamamoto (he's really impressing me).  A monoii was called after the gyoji awarded the gumbai to Ichiyamamoto.  Even though the replays showed that Ichiyamamoto's right heel dropped out first, chief shimpan Nishikido decided to call a torinaoshi redo.   Perhaps he didn't want to hand Shikimori Kindayu a call reversal for the second straight day.  But since there was a lot riding on this bout, another possibility was that Nishikido didn't want to be the one to hand the win over over to Chiyonoo just like that.  

As fate would have it, Ichiyamamoto won the rematch fair and square.  That left Chiyonoo with an 11-3 record, not to mention tied with fan-favourite Ura.  

Tomorrow, Ura will go up against J14e Bushozan and then two bouts later Chiyonoo will face Takakeisho's stablemate, Takakento.

If Ura wins his bout, Chiyonoo has to win to keep his yusho hopes alive and force a playoff.  But if Ura loses, then Chiyonoo can snatch the Juryo championship with a regulation bout win.  But if he loses, there is the potential for a 3- or even 4-way playoff.

Plenty of excitement in the ring for tomorrow.  The NSK and sumo fans couldn't have asked for a better final day of Sekitori action.  

Spoiler

If we get a tomoesen playoff in the Juryo and the Top Divisions, I think my head will explode.

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Amamaniac

[Amamaniac 2,079]

21 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

30 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Enho decided to do the "completely unnecessary run of the ring" today.  Feeling upstaged, Tobizaru decided to make a statement, and stayed on the ring. 

P.S., Hope you got a photo.  

https://youtu.be/t0gYV2YbAkg?t=684

In lieu of Akinomaki's photos :)

Sorry, I only watch Kintamayama's YouTube sumo digests!  

[ryafuji 814]

2 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Has any tategyoji's resignation been accepted? But there hasn't been anyone quite as hapless as SI41, right?

Or to put it another way, has any tategyoji gone into that meeting expecting to actually get fired and actually getting fired?

Yes, Shonosuke 25's resignation was accepted. He was the gyoji who argued with the shimpan when they reversed one of his decisions in January 1972. 

[Seiyashi 4,074]

54 minutes ago, hakutorizakura said:

I understand that the battle of the purple mawashis took all the attention today, but does anyone else noticed how lovingly Okinoumi and Tamawashi embraced after the latter fell off the dohyo? 

The slow motion makes it 100% better, when you see Okinoumi's reaction to Tamawashi incoming at high speed.

[Churaumi 743]

47 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

The slow motion makes it 100% better, when you see Okinoumi's reaction to Tamawashi incoming at high speed.

And the "I'm not looking you in the eye ever again and I think we're both fine with never mentioning this again" look Tamawashi gave afterward made it even better.

[dada78641 884]

4 hours ago, Hakuryuho said:

The comment section under Jason's coverage of the Terunofuji-Endo bout is absolutely mental, 
so many people claiming that Teru won the fight and that it was clearly rigged because of the
rampant xenophobia against foreign rikishi..

Frankly, it was the first time anyone was able to fight Terunofuji evenly in this whole tournament. Even in his hansoku loss he was clearly the better wrestler. Not so much this time, though, Endo earned it.

Also, people are talking about how tough a challenge it is for Takakeisho to beat Terunofuji twice...but remember that if he beats him once, and Endo wins his match against Shodai, we've actually got a 3-way playoff. It's entirely possible we could see Endo-Takakeisho fighting for the yusho.