Benihana

Natsu 2022 Discussion Thread - here be spoilers

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Has anyone noticed Hokutofuji's brand new mawashi?  It's royal blue and a really nice replacement for that awful silver/gray rag he had been wearing.  The old one was stained and always looked wet with sweat and god knows what else.  It was like the old joke -- To check to see if something needs to be washed, just throw it against the wall & see if it sticks!

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3 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Hokutofuji keeps his streak of alternating KK-MK basho going - at 15 now.

He's one of those rikishis whose numbers don't indicate the effort he always put on the dohyo. Would love to see him rise a bit higher.

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Shodai has excellent balance. It may have looked ugly, but there was a pull down in there, and he used his forward momentum to delay his own fall. Credit where credit is due. He won that one.

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3 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

If Takanosho loses to Hoshoryu and Terunofuji beats Abi, we'll have a leading pack of six after today, all on only 8 wins.

The only time that has happened was Natsu 1998, but can you spot the major difference in the leaderboard?

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2 hours ago, Gaijingai said:

You know it's crazy when a guy like Wakatakakage starts 3-5 and beats all 3 ozeki in a row despite a losing record against them  and all 3 having won 2 out of 3 matches they had prior to meeting him. Yes, he won last basho but he looked bad, losing to 4 guys he had a winning record against. 

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3 minutes ago, Rocks said:

You know it's crazy when a guy like Wakatakakage starts 3-5 and beats all 3 ozeki in a row despite a losing record against them  and all 3 having won 2 out of 3 matches they had prior to meeting him. Yes, he won last basho but he looked bad, losing to 4 guys he had a winning record against. 

It's not only possible, but probably realistic now for him to go into July in the same shape re: making ozeki that he was coming into this one (with 12 and 9 wins in his previous two bashos). If he can somehow drill Teru hard enough to get him moving back, there's a good chance he hits ten. It's so wild. 

 

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10 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

I think what was meant was an adjustment during the bashō itself, so for instance a bad call one way would be "credited" to the rikishi and that rikishi would be given some latitude for a doubtful bout result should he have one later in the bashō. For instance, Takakeishō should have one "dubious credit" now after that travesty against Wakatakakage, so if let's say later on he has a close call that might have been a torinaoshi he might just get the outright win instead.

While the idea is attractive, I don't credit the shimpan with enough on-the-spot flexibility to justify such a decision without looking bad or dubious themselves. It would really have to be a close call for the rikishi and not a outright close loss, otherwise the shimpan just look like they made a bad decision or a biased one.

Besides, there may be a different set of shimpan the next time.  "Adjusting karma" over the next few bouts would need coordination at the group level; I assume we're not suggesting that.

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7 hours ago, robnplunder said:

Gee.  Mitoryu has a long way to go to break the record.  

 

7 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Mitoryu has almost broken into the top 10 though. He'll tie for 10th place if he gets 28 straight, which he's nearly at.

If you care about someone specifically staying in Juryo 1-14 (J15 has been unavailable since May 1967) then Mitoryu is already 6th on the all-time leaderboard. If he stays in Juryo for another 7 basho he will equal Tomonohana's run of 34 basho (Tomonohana made good use of kosho status though, so arguably in just 5 more basho Mitoryu will have competed the equal-most times consecutively in Juryo's 14 rungs). If you also specify that the rikishi must have not reached Makuuchi at any point before this run in Juryo, then Mitoryu is second behind Hakuryu and will equal his 5 year stint in just 3 more basho.

(You do not want to know what query I used for this, it was highly inelegant and required manual counting/intervention)

Edited by Yarimotsu
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Riding a gravy train  in Juryo may be preferable to struggling to survive in mid-to-low makuuchi.

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11 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

 

Actually, I did just mean in terms of putting some credit in the bank re: demotion or promotion. If he ends 7-8, let’s say, they could note that as a false makekoshi and be more generous in how far he falls (same idea for promotion but obviously there’s not much space for him to go upwards).

That could work lower down the banzuke, but a 7-8 K1e would naturally go to M1e so not much space there either.

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2 hours ago, Blue_Wolf said:

Kiribayama 1st yusho incoming. Couldn’t be happier.

You see it too?  I think being off the media radar will definitely help his chances.

As you are no doubt aware, Kiribayama has yet to face frontrunner Takanosho this tournament.  Their eventual matchup could will make or break both men's yusho bids.

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7 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

You see it too?  I think being off the media radar will definitely help his chances.

As you are no doubt aware, Kiribayama has yet to face frontrunner Takanosho this tournament.  Their eventual matchup could will make or break both men's yusho bids.

Past performance is no guarantee of future performance, but Kiribayama goes into that matchup holding an absolutely awful record against Takanoshō - 1-10.

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And now that Kiribayama has lulled Takanosho into a false sense of security, it's time to unleash HIS TRUE POWER! MWA HA HA HA!

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It looks like the final sunset is imminent for Shohozan. I will miss him :-( and his charisma.

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12 minutes ago, Gospodin said:

It looks like the final sunset is imminent for Shohozan. I will miss him :-( and his charisma.

Is it, though? I recall he was interviewed at the time of ex-Wakashimazu's retirement; do his reasons for continuing then still hold?

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I don´t know, but his record indicates it is very probable that he will drop from Juryo.

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18 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

So uh, we finally have an explanation of the shimpan weirdness this basho:

Courtesy of Herouth RT Sasaki Ichiro of Nikkan Sports. TLDR: the shimpan in the video room usually can call verification mono-iis, by telling the head shimpan so. However, in Haru, a certain "influential oyakata" (not clear whether that oyakata was or was not a shimpan himself) said that the video room shimpan shouldn't call mono-iis. He was allegedly annoyed by a call the video room made (not clear whether the call was right or not).

Combined with the new shimpan department, that would explain why the mono-ii have been weird this basho. But this seems to have been fixed as of day 10, even though arguably it still wasn't working as well as it should have been. Herouth and some collaborators are trying to see if they can identify the bout responsible from Haru, but while we may assume it's a sekitori bout it might as well be a toriteki bout. In any case, keep eyes on that thread as there might be updates.

Talk about some malicious compliance! I love to see it and hope the video room will refuse to resume their assistant with calling mono-ii until some public acknowledgment of their helpfulness is made. Definitely not an apology, though…I’m not an idiot and know that will never happen. 

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1 minute ago, Michishige said:

Talk about some malicious compliance! I love to see it and hope the video room will refuse to resume their assistant with calling mono-ii until some public acknowledgment of their helpfulness is made. Definitely not an apology, though…I’m not an idiot and know that will never happen. 

The thing is, normally with malicious compliance, the person at whom the malicious compliance is aimed is the one who suffers the consequences. In this case, it feels like the new shimpan squad have basically become collateral damage and are starting their tenure under a cloud. And depending how "influential" that oyakata was, the video room might not have had any say in the matter and were basically just told to shut up, so I don't see that they had any room to choose to be maliciously compliant.

Edited by Seiyashi

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19 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

I think what was meant was an adjustment during the bashō itself, so for instance a bad call one way would be "credited" to the rikishi and that rikishi would be given some latitude for a doubtful bout result should he have one later in the bashō. For instance, Takakeishō should have one "dubious credit" now after that travesty against Wakatakakage, so if let's say later on he has a close call that might have been a torinaoshi he might just get the outright win instead.

While the idea is attractive, I don't credit the shimpan with enough on-the-spot flexibility to justify such a decision without looking bad or dubious themselves. It would really have to be a close call for the rikishi and not a outright close loss, otherwise the shimpan just look like they made a bad decision or a biased one.

All this would do is create another rikishi who is owed a favor.  Where would this madness end?

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Another instance of Tochinoshin's mawashi being loose and ending up in his armpits. One wonders if this is a deliberate tactic to keep his opponents from getting good leverage on him.

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13 minutes ago, just_some_guy said:

Another instance of Tochinoshin's mawashi being loose and ending up in his armpits. One wonders if this is a deliberate tactic to keep his opponents from getting good leverage on him.

It’s pretty common for rikishi to adjust the tightness of their mawashi as a tactic, so probably.

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1 hour ago, just_some_guy said:

Another instance of Tochinoshin's mawashi being loose and ending up in his armpits. One wonders if this is a deliberate tactic to keep his opponents from getting good leverage on him.

Some people just like to wear loose fitting clothes....;-)

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1 hour ago, Morty said:

Some people just like to wear loose fitting clothes....;-)

Fashion statement.

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