Kyushu 2021 discussion

[Tigerboy1966 948]

2 hours ago, Shatsume said:

Perfect retirement bout for brawler Shohozan I reckon; last bout on home soil, a win, and absolutely plastered in blood. 

As the poet said:

 

"In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed."

[Kotomiyama 104]

6-1 for Tomokaze at Ms37. I hope he keeps on winning and returns to Makuuchi. I can't get enough of comebacks.

[Morty 1,393]

4 hours ago, Shatsume said:

Perfect retirement bout for brawler Shohozan I reckon; last bout on home soil, a win, and absolutely plastered in blood. 

I thought exactly the same thing. That was a Muta level crimson mask at the end there

[WAKATAKE 2,338]

5 hours ago, Shatsume said:

Perfect retirement bout for brawler Shohozan I reckon; last bout on home soil, a win, and absolutely plastered in blood. 

No news media announcement so far, my guess is they will wait until right up to Nishonoseki turning 65, meaning his retirement could happen next month after which they've already drawn up the banzuke. Or he might just be continuing for some odd ball reason

[Asashosakari 16,696]

15 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

Nobody took any notice yesterday, so I'll say it again. The criteria for promotion to ozeki has been eased slightly in the past when a rikishi has been as consistent a performer in sanyaku as Mitakeumi. Kotoshogiku, Kisenosato and Goeido all got promoted with 32 wins from 3 basho, so I believe Mitakeumi 'only' needs 12 in January.

Kotoshogiku had 33, and specifically didn't get promoted with 32 before (he had an 11-10-11-12 run). Although the second 11 was probably the worst way to score that many wins in an ozeki run attempt - he was 10-2 and then lost to two of three maegashira opponents at the end.

[Tiger Tanaka 208]

Another year of sumo in the books, how different things look from when I started watching in 2017!

Glad to see the most healthy basho in quite a while. Only kyujo in the top division was non-health related and only Tochinoshin missed any days during the basho. 

[jsolo 106]

Kyushu November 2021 Basho--Day 14 links and statistics blog: results, standings, videos, photos, match articles, kimarite statistics, time of match statistics, kachi-koshi/make-koshi, Top Rank Performance, Maegashira v san'yaku and more

 

Kyushu November Basho--Day 14 links and statistics blog

[Tigerboy1966 948]

I would never normally root for Takakeisho against Terunofuji but there was a moment in Sunday's final when I almost reached that point. It came when Teru, having survived the initial charge just stopped fighting and stood off at (his) arms length as if to say "OK Shorty, watcha gonna do now?" He did something very similar in the May playoff. I was thinking "Teru, you are my man, but you are taking liberties and it would serve you right if you lost this one".

[Seiyashi 3,320]

5 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I would never normally root for Takakeisho against Terunofuji but there was a moment in Sunday's final when I almost reached that point. It came when Teru, having survived the initial charge just stopped fighting and stood off at (his) arms length as if to say "OK Shorty, watcha gonna do now?" He did something very similar in the May playoff. I was thinking "Teru, you are my man, but you are taking liberties and it would serve you right if you lost this one".

I'm thinking that's a Takakeisho problem than a Terunofuji problem. Hakuho's first bout against Takakeisho looked remarkably like that as well. 

For a bout that many wrote off as a dead rubber, it's interesting how much it revealed about its protagonists. Takakeisho is not as out of gas after the first volley as he used to be/ as many others think - he seems to have levelled up his stamina this basho to have another serious go at an opponent, and there was at least one opponent who wasn't expecting it (Endo?). I was tickled by Terunofuji adopting a Hakuho-esque strat as his go-to to deal with Takakeisho, thinking the longer he takes the bout, the better for him; not perhaps quite true given Takakeisho's improved stamina but still a better strategy than rushing in blind.

Most importantly, Terunofuji's greatest weakness is against strong oshi-types: none of the yotsu-types gave him any real trouble (although Kiribayama certainly made him work hard for it on shonichi), but Abi and Takakeisho were the ones who took him closest to the brink of defeat. This basho would have looked very different if those two just had that extra ounce of juice to force Terunofuji over.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Seiyashi

[lackmaker 392]

10 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

As the poet said:

 

"In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed."

Pam Ayres?

[Morty 1,393]

1 hour ago, lackmaker said:

Pam Ayres?

Spike Milligan.

[RabidJohn 1,210]

13 hours ago, Asashosakari said:

Kotoshogiku had 33, and specifically didn't get promoted with 32 before (he had an 11-10-11-12 run). 

Thank you for the correction. I ought to know better than rely on my memory...

[neonbelly 226]

21 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

I would never normally root for Takakeisho against Terunofuji but there was a moment in Sunday's final when I almost reached that point. It came when Teru, having survived the initial charge just stopped fighting and stood off at (his) arms length as if to say "OK Shorty, watcha gonna do now?" He did something very similar in the May playoff. I was thinking "Teru, you are my man, but you are taking liberties and it would serve you right if you lost this one".

I think thrusters are strongest when they get to take free shots against an opponent who's struggling for the belt instead of firing back. Terunofuji was being wise rather than a showboat by not going face-first into the E Honda slaps.

[Sue 456]

On 28/11/2021 at 03:32, Thorbjarn said:

With other Rikishi I would think [Ozeki run], with Mitakeumi, not so much. 

It's clearly the next one in a long series of Ozeki runs from Next Ozeki Mitakeumi, and potentially not the last one.

[Reonito 597]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

It's clearly the next one in a long series of Ozeki runs from Next Ozeki Mitakeumi, and potentially not the last one.

This is arguably only the third for him.

[Sue 456]

2 hours ago, Reonito said:

This is arguably only the third for him.

That won't necessarily prevent it from becoming a long series....

[jsolo 106]

Kyushu--November Basho--Links and Statistics--Day 15 Blog Post: results, standings, video, photos, match articles, Kimarite statistics, time of match statistics, KK/MK, Top Rank Performance, Maegashira v san'yaku, and more. Summary--cumulative statistics and comparisons with September Basho, as well as index to all videos/photos and win-loss record of all Makuuchi Rikishi for calendar 2021 year coming soon.

 

November Basho Day 15 Links and Statistics Blog

[Eikokurai 3,413]

11 hours ago, Reonito said:

This is arguably only the third for him.

I’d count his 10-5 > 11-4 in March and July of last year too. The 10-5 was at M3e which would have been close enough to be counted if the third basho was decent. And tbh, we can count any time he scored a 9-6 or 10-5, as it could feasibly have been the first basho in a run. His 10-5 at Komusubi just in May could have started one.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Eikokurai

[Reonito 597]

11 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

I’d count his 10-5 > 11-4 in March and July of last year too. The 10-5 was at M3e which would have been close enough to be counted if the third basho was decent.

Fair enough, I limited my search to when he was ranked san'yaku. IMO 9+ win san'yaku (or upper maegashira) basho are too common to count them as starts of runs, even though they may end up being such in retrospect.

[Gurowake 3,434]

I would only count any two basho where the rikishi had at least 20 wins in the previous tournament and was in sanyaku for both.  If not in sanyaku for both, add one win per tournament as such (assuming still a full joi schedule).  That would leave us the two tournaments following the first Yusho, the tournament following the second Yusho, Aki 2020 coming off 10-11, and now.  I note how each of the runs seems in some way weaker to the one before.

[Asashosakari 16,696]

45 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

I’d count his 10-5 > 11-4 in March and July of last year too. The 10-5 was at M3e which would have been close enough to be counted if the third basho was decent. And tbh, we can count any time he scored a 9-6 or 10-5, as it could feasibly have been the first basho in a run. His 10-5 at Komusubi just in May could have started one.

Treating a single basho as a countable ozeki run is pretty silly unless it's a truly exceptional result. It's a run when there's an actual possibility that the next score can result in promotion. A single 9-6 or 10-5 does nothing of the sort.

Edited December 1, 2021 by Asashosakari

[Eikokurai 3,413]

4 minutes ago, Asashosakari said:

Treating a single basho as a countable ozeki run is pretty silly unless it's a truly exceptional result. It's a run when there's an actual possibility that the next score can result in promotion. A single 9-6 or 10-5 does nothing of the sort.

I’ll rephrase: Given Mitakeumi’s obvious talent and potential, anytime he scores a minimum of 9-6 there is discussion about whether he can build it into an Ozeki run, and then the disappointment when he follows it up with an underwhelming 8-7. This is what I mean. Mitakeumi specific.

[Asashosakari 16,696]

Those are pretty short discussions nowadays, as far as I can tell. I'd be inclined to apply the "pretty silly" descriptor to them, too, inasmuch as they're actually happening.

[Naganoyama 5,284]

Did I miss something or did they skip the pre-basho weigh-in?

[Akinomaki 34,252]

3 hours ago, Naganoyama said:

Did I miss something or did they skip the pre-basho weigh-in?

They had one before the Aki basho

Another pic with the birthday of Hokuseiho, I don't think they do it every basho