Benevolance

Probably a neck injury.

On the bright side, the lack of upper talent means that when I inevitably fall asleep halfway through makuchi (after midnight local time), I don't miss anything important.

The yusho winner gets at least 13 wins.

Wait, wait, wait. "It goes without saying that 10 wins minimum obligation for an ozeki?" No, no. Someone better let him know it's eight wins and coast, or he's going to screw up this whole system.

Yeah, but when you Brits pronounce it it sounds remarkably like 'wooster cage'

My hunch is Shodai is a no show, Abi fights like a cornered wolverine to get his KK, and Kotonowaka remains consigned to irrelevancy.

I rarely expect Shodai to show up for his important matches. Post-kadoban clearing yet again? My money is that we'll see Week One Shodai on senshuraku. Still, I'm cheering for Takayasu to grab this one, because it's probably one of his last, best shots, and the Waka kid has looked pretty good for a while now and I'm sure he'll get lots of chances in his future.

No Dantsu? No Taka? I don't consider those a problem. The only thing I'm concerned about a rikishi is the way that they Waka.

I cannot abide anyone who advertises his lack of Waka so blatantly. A curse upon his goats and hockey pucks!

I'm not sure why they would start making Takayasu face upper ranked wrestlers at this point, as opposed to continuing their usual scheduling? Because he's been at the top before? Isn't it more usual to expect him to face someone in the running, but higher up the banzuke, around day 13 when they actually need to settle the yusho race? It feels to me that's how they've done it for a while now. Poor Aoiyama. But I dare you to find a rikishi vs Hakuho not named Harumafuji or Kisenosato that would be considered fair odds during Hak's reign. I remember very heated* discussions on the forums as to whether Kise was 'good' or 'bad' based on the fact that he won about 1 in 3 or 4 times vs Hakuho, and he had the second best record against the daiyokozuna. *as heated as an outdoor hockey rink in Red Deer

A 13-2 yusho would be out of Takayasu's reach, so let's hope the 12-3 can do it.

I read this sentence three times and it still doesn't make any sense to me.

[spoilers] Terunofuji already won the tournament. [/spoilers] Seen a couple spirited jonokuchi bouts so far, but what's the German word "when two low ranked sumo wrestlers create a spirited bout due more to their mediocrity than their actual fighting spirit"?

I derive immense satisfaction from watching a dohyo get built.

Fingers crossed that losing his sense of smell has somehow improved Shodai's tachi-ai.

If only Takanoyama had known earlier that the key to putting on some extra weight was retirement, he could have retired earlier and then he'd have been able to compete in Makuuchi.

My boundless pessimism about Mitakeumi's fighting spirit has finally yielded it's intended results, catapulting this rikishi to an undeserved ozeki position. I had always pegged Mitakeumi as the next Goeidou, but I think that Shodai stole the position and refuses to give it up. Well, refuses to give it up, but only every other basho.

Thankfully Mitakeumi has a record of making these ozeki promotion decisions easy for the committee and his eventual 11-4 won't please the fishmongers.

Nintendo should have provided everyone within throwing distance soft, squishy pokeballs to lob. Missed opportunity.

Ex-Harumafuji dons the pikachu mascot costume and re-enters sumo under the shikona Pikachu Libre. The sumo association tries to object, but after several failed legal challenges, they cannot stop him. Pikachu Libre soon rises to the rank of yokozuna, dominating the opposition with his lightning quick Pikachu-non-henka. The children of the world rejoice.

Okay, but how do we order copies of the banners?

Someone should direct Isegahama to the Ridiculous Predictions thread.

I see they've gone with the Ground-type gym, per usual. It won't give either Terunofuji (fighting type) or Pikachu (electric type) an advantage due to terrain, so it's a respectable choice. Kind of cool that the last pic previews the Ryōgoku Kokugikan Gym badge.

The only way I fathom it being broken is if the holder of the shield in the previous tournament did not participate in the following tournament, either because of injury or retirement. Otherwise, if the holder withdraws, his opponent gets the fusen win and the shield moves on.

Oh, hey. Seiyashi! Asojima said to tell you that you should track the shield ownership across all of sumo history.