Nagoya Basho 2021

[Tigerboy1966 1,376]

4 hours ago, ryafuji said:

10 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Yutakayama cruising back to Makuuchi after being totally shafted by the Banzuke makers this basho.

Agree he was unlucky but the banzuke makers would point to Ichiyamamoto's 6-2 record as evidence they got it right. 

And we might get Yutakayama squaring off against Abi with the juryo yusho on the line. That would not be one for the faint-hearted (viewer or combatant) and would be more exciting than 90% of the maku'uchi bouts.

[Kintamayama 44,354]

4 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

And we might get Yutakayama squaring off against Abi with the juryo yusho on the line. That would not be one for the faint-hearted (viewer or combatant) and would be more exciting than 90% of the maku'uchi bouts.

I think Abi will go kyujo after his kachikoshi

Edited July 11, 2021 by Kintamayama

[sumojoann 1,256]

2 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Still waiting for an official announcement that there will even be something like an opening ceremony, let alone involving Hakuho.

The last I heard, no official invitation for Hakuho to participate in the Olympics has been forthcoming.  It seems to me that surely he would know something by now if the Olympic committee was interested.  Crickets??

[Seiyashi 4,071]

1 hour ago, sumojoann said:

3 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Still waiting for an official announcement that there will even be something like an opening ceremony, let alone involving Hakuho.

The last I heard, no official invitation for Hakuho to participate in the Olympics has been forthcoming.  It seems to me that surely he would know something by now if the Olympic committee was interested.  Crickets??

Yes, I've found this very curious as well. Surely by now the preparations for the opening ceremony would be in full swing and rehearsals would be going on in earnest, which raises the question: how is he to be allowed to attend such rehearsals when he has a basho to complete and is under corona guidelines by the NSK which precludes mixing with outsiders past banzuke day?

[nagora 88]

The whole Tokyo Olympics is a fiasco, in terms of organisation. Maybe the actual games will be okay, but the ceremonial stuff might as well be skipped at this point.

[Kaito 275]

1 hour ago, sumojoann said:

The last I heard, no official invitation for Hakuho to participate in the Olympics has been forthcoming.  It seems to me that surely he would know something by now if the Olympic committee was interested.  Crickets??

He would know it, but we probably wouldn't, right? I think the contents of the Opening Ceremony are largely kept secret.

[Seiyashi 4,071]

The more I think about it, if he were to do it in full yokozuna dohyo-iri style, that involves at least 2 other makuuchi wrestlers (only Ishiura from Miyagino is in makuuchi right now), a yobidashi, and a gyoji (the latter two at least sanyaku if not tate (no tate-yobidashi now though), and none of them are from Miyagino at the moment). So that's a lot of cross-heya personnel that need to be involved as well.

Unless he just shows up and does it, on the basis that he's one of those ceremonial moving parts (like VIP entrances) that the rehearsers gloss over in practice runs.

Edited July 11, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Dapeng 232]

4 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Still waiting for an official announcement that there will even be something like an opening ceremony, let alone involving Hakuho.

Well, I don't think the Japanese government wants to have the opening ceremony being skipped, and neither the JSK wants to miss such an opportunity to promote themselves.

[Kaninoyama 1,694]

1 hour ago, Dapeng said:

Well, I don't think the Japanese government wants to have the opening ceremony being skipped, and neither the JSK wants to miss such an opportunity to promote themselves.

There will be an opening ceremony. You can't have an Olympic Games without one.

What the scale will be, whether there will be people in attendance watching it, and whether Hakuho will be participating are separate questions. 

Edited July 11, 2021 by Kaninoyama

[bettega 427]

2 hours ago, nagora said:

The whole Tokyo Olympics is a fiasco, in terms of organisation. Maybe the actual games will be okay, but the ceremonial stuff might as well be skipped at this point.

Mostly because of the "International Olympic Committee" (and all the money from the sponsros) - the Tokyo city has no power to suspend the Olympics by itself.

 

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,248]

I end up watching every opening ceremony and I can only remember 3 moments. The guy shooting the fire arrow, Bjork's big dress, and Mr Bean. So what I'm saying is that individuals make the best moments, nobody really remembers the dance choreography of 500 dancers.

[Ichimawashi 573]

Olympic Opening Ceremony Details leaked from NHK secret source!

After the athletes march into the stadium and take their widely-spaced seats, 2500 volunteers will dress up and combine to simulate Coronavirus cells and randomly bounce around the playing field until a new group enters from the north end in the shape of a face mask.  The Coronavirus cells will attempt to break through the mask and fail, then they will attempt to mutate into a new form and some may succeed.  At that point, another new group will emerge from the south end of the stadium in the shape of a giant syringe.  This will cause the cells to fall face up and after a few minutes, but not synchronized, they will turn face down, where the backs of their clothing is the same colour as the stadium floor.  They will move around largely unseen, then flip back over again in formation, spelling out anti-covid messages in all the languages of the world for way longer than necessary.  Then they will make a large circle while the syringe morphs into a pair of wooden sticks, all the while as the centre circle is raised one meter and the cover removed to reveal, a (round) dohyo!  The loudest hyoushi-gi sound in history will then be heard throughout most of Tokyo, and the yokozuna and the rest of his party will appear.  This will be the cue for great hilarity in every country in the world for sumo fans, as their local broadcast team attempts to explain the ceremony, stacking poor translations onto non-facts and adding in nonsensical comments, resulting in the longest off-basho thread here ever as we all trade the inanity.  The ceremony is flawless, unlike the description of it.

:)

[Koorifuu 886]

Ichinojo 5-3 after finishing his tour of the titled ranks. Impressive and hopefully on course for at least a prize.

[Yamanashi 3,726]

20 minutes ago, Ichimawashi said:

The ceremony is flawless, unlike the description of it. 

:)

Feeling a little sad, but your imagination alone gets a "Like".

How differently different cultures handle such things.  Hakuho, his assistants, the gyoji and the yobidashi are (I assume) vaccinated; they can certainly be (and, for the maximum effect, should be) ten or more meters away from everyone else.  They can be brought to and taken away from the venue in ambulances, if necessary.  So how is this problematic, scientifically or otherwise?  Is this the dreaded Omega variant they are worried about?

[Asashosakari 18,786]

9 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

Still waiting for an official announcement that there will even be something like an opening ceremony, let alone involving Hakuho.

Maybe he'll be one of the IOC-invited VIPs that get to wave into a camera during the ceremony.

[Ichimawashi 573]

Something to think about.  If a sansho winner who narrowly missed winning the yusho acted publicly towards his consolation prize in the same manner with which the English footballers today treated their silver medals (some individuals removing them within split-seconds of the ceremonial receiving line end, where it was placed round their necks, before they were even out of the camera’s view), what sort of demotion would the Kyokai impose?  Other than the fact that Italy won in penalties, the details of the game I watched earlier today have faded from my memory and been replaced by sheer shock and disgust at the antics of these crybaby children, some of whom never even got on the pitch for the final, who chose to trash their achievement in public rather than be proud of what they had accomplished through their disappointment.

[Sue 483]

6 hours ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

I end up watching every opening ceremony and I can only remember 3 moments. The guy shooting the fire arrow, Bjork's big dress, and Mr Bean. So what I'm saying is that individuals make the best moments, nobody really remembers the dance choreography of 500 dancers.

Interesting what we remember. My memories are Muhammad Ali lighting the cauldron, and James Bond (and "the Queen") parachuting in.

(Which technically makes HM the Q a Bond Girl.)

Edited July 12, 2021 by Sue

[Ichimawashi 573]

I thought I had a pretty good idea of the rules of this game; then I watched the Abi fiasco tonight....

[Eikokurai 3,433]

2 hours ago, Ichimawashi said:

Something to think about.  If a sansho winner who narrowly missed winning the yusho acted publicly towards his consolation prize in the same manner with which the English footballers today treated their silver medals (some individuals removing them within split-seconds of the ceremonial receiving line end, where it was placed round their necks, before they were even out of the camera’s view), what sort of demotion would the Kyokai impose?  Other than the fact that Italy won in penalties, the details of the game I watched earlier today have faded from my memory and been replaced by sheer shock and disgust at the antics of these crybaby children, some of whom never even got on the pitch for the final, who chose to trash their achievement in public rather than be proud of what they had accomplished through their disappointment.

It’s not uncommon for players to remove their runner-up medals. 

[Kaninoyama 1,694]

Today's guest in the opposite side commentator's chair is ex-Ikioi. 

[Kaninoyama 1,694]

Kotonowaka with win #7 is quietly putting together a nice basho. 

[Seiyashi 4,071]

Definitely a sign that Hoshoryu is improving rapidly. He broke his duck against Wakatakakage in one of the most emphatic ways possible -  a nice, full body spinning shitatedashinage. He's looking at a nice position smack bang in the joi next time out, even if he doesn't quite make the queue for Wakatakakage's komusubi spot at the moment.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Seiyashi

[Katooshu 3,135]

I am becoming more convinced by Hosh the last 2 basho. He carried his success up to sanyaku level opposition last basho, showing he can beat the elite (many solid maegashira are pretty much locked into losses vs ozeki; he beat the first 2 he faced), and he's displaying more consistency this basho than previously. He's also at the top of rikishi in his age range, and shows a lot of versatility as well as the ability to quickly adjust to his opponent's approach.

My issue with him mostly to date has been that he can look great winning, and get everyone lauding his talent, but then take uninspiring losses to opponents worse than the ones he's been beating, as if he doesn't get fired up or focused enough if the task doesn't seem as tough..

Edited July 12, 2021 by Katooshu

[Katooshu 3,135]

And there we go, leaders remain unbeaten

[Fukuyamada 42]

The fixtures should gradually become more competitive after day 10. Shodai, Mitakeumi and Takayasu will probably offer stronger resistance. I'll be mildly surprised if both leaders enter day 15 unbeaten.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Fukuyamada